
aass_^ 



27f s 



MEMORIAL VOLUME 



OF TP E 



POPHAM CELEBRATION, 

giugust 29, 1862: 

COMMEMORATIVE OF THE PLANTING OF THE 

POPHAM COLONY ON THE PENINSULA OF SABINO, 

^.ttgusflfJ, ^. ^., 1607, 

ESTABLISHING THE TITLE OF ENGLAND TO THE CONTINENT. 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIKECTION OF THE 

REV. EDWARD BALLARD, 

■ I 

SIOBETAEK OF THE EXECUTIVE COHMITTBS OP THE CEtEBKATION. 



POETLAND : 

BAILEY & NOYES 

1863. 



Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 1863, by 
lu the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Maine. 



PRINTED BY BROWN XHUKSTON, 
COR. OF EXCHANGE AMD MIDDLE STS, 






MAP OF SABINO 



The well executed map, which forms the frontispiece to this volume, is taken 
from the " Coast Survey," made hy the General Government. It will he found 
to he a valuable illustrative aid, enahhng the i-eader of these pages, as well aa 
of the history of the early times to which they relate, to identify the locality of 
the original Fokt St. George, within the limits of the ancient " Maw- 
ooshen."! 

In regard to this location, the minds of many persons in years past have 
ijeen influenced by Sullivan, who in 1806 gave his opinion in a communication 
to the Massachusetts Historical Society, that the Popham Colony made their 
settlement " on an island within Georgetown, called Parker's Island." The 
following extract conveys his statement: "Upon this island the Europeans 
who first colonized to New England made their landing. Virginia was planted 
in the year 1606, and has, therefore, assumed the dignified title of ' The Ancient 
Dominions.' But the Colony of Parker's Island, which has since been called 
Sagadahoc, was but one year behind her. In the year 1607, George Popham, 
Rawleigh Gilbert, Edmund Harlow, Edmund Davis, and about one hundred 
other adventurers, in form of a colony, landed and took possession of Parker's 
Island. Had the leaders of this little colony survived the severities of the 
winter next after their landing, Plymouth might have been deprived of the 
honor of being the mother of, New England." 2 In his history at an earlier 
date (1795), he had taken Stage Island, from tradition, as the place of this 
settlement. 3 Williamson, adopting this opinion, connects it wilji another, and 

1 This aboriginal name [Purchas, vol. 4, p. 1837] indicated a large portion of the maritime 
region of Maine ; embracing its two largo rivers, the Kennebec and the Penobscot. The Cashaba 
was chief of its confederated tribes. The word was written "Jloasham"' by Gorges, [Me. II. C, 
vol. 2, p. 02,] and " MoasSons" by Popham, to denote the Indians therein. [Post, 224.] Another 
form, " Mavooshen," should bo " Mauocshon," aa the third letter was nut used by the natives. 

2 Mass. Hist. Col., vol. 1, p. 251. 

3 Hist., PI.. 63, 169, 170, 174. 



IV MAP OP SABINO. 

states of the colonists, that, " Although according to some accounts, they first 
went ashore upon Erascohegan, 1 or the western Peninsula ; ~ yet it is believed 
they finally disembarked upon an Island 200 rods eastward, called Stage 
Island." He also adds, that after they had "erected on the Island some slight 
habitations or cottages, and sunk two or three wells," they deemed the 
Island 3 " too small for the i^ermanent foundation of a colony. * * * There- 
fore they concluded 'to change their situation ; and passing across the river to 
the western bank, they selected a convenient site on the southeast side of a 
creek, near what is now called Atkins' Bay, which stretches west into the land 
half a league, and forms a peninsula at the southerly corner of the present 
town of Phipsburg. To this place they themselves removed, and during the 
autumn located and established a settlement, which was subsequently denomi- 
nated the Sagadahoc Colony." '^ 

But the earlier and better testimony to their first and only choice of the 
place and its occupancy, is solely in favor of the " Peninsula of Sabino." 
Strachey, the historian of "the settlement, says, " they made choise of a place 
for their plantation at the mouth or entry of the river on the west side, (for the 
river bendeth yt self towards the nor-east and by east,) being almost an island, 
of a good bignes, being in a province called by the Indians, Sabino, so called of 
a sagamo or chief commander und^r the graund bassaba." ^ Purchas, on the 
authority of a letter from George Popham to Sir John Gilbert, asserts that 
" they chose the place of their plantacion at the mouth of the Sagadahec, in a 
westerly peninsula." 6 Heylin says, " S. Gorges' Fort, the first plantation of the 
English, was built by them at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, in a Demi-Island, 
Anno 1G07." "^ Ogilby says, that " a hundred men were sent to settle a colony 
at Sagadahoc, under the command of George Popham, who seated themselves 
in a Peninsula at the mouth of this River." 8 Prince is explicit, saying that 
these colonists " settle on a westerly peninsula at the mouth of Sagadahoc." 9 
Belknap is confirmatory : " They landed at the mouth of Sagadahock or Ken- 
nebeck River, on a peninsula." 10 Holmes, to the same purport, has been quoted 
above by Williamson. In the year 1807, two hundred years after the settle- 
ment, the Rev. Dr. Jenks, then a resident of Bath, with a party of friends, 

1 Now Parker's Island. 

2 " On a peuinsula." Holmes' Annals, vol. 1, p. 160. 

3 '■ On Stage Island are the remains of a fort ; brick chimneys ; and some wells Of water ; 
several collars ; —♦the bricks must have come from England. Sullivan, p. 170." 

4 Williamson, vol. 1, pp. 198, 199. 
b Hist. Trav., p. 172. 

6 Cited in Me. Hist, Col., vol. 2, p. 28. Folsom's Address. 

7 CosDiog. Lib., 4, p. 95. 

8 Hist., p. 141. 

9 Chron., p. 116. 

10 Amer. Biog , vol. 1, p. 350. 



MAP OP SABINO. V 

visited the raoiith of the Kennebec River. He says, "To the spot that bore 
the best claims to this distinction, and which is on a ' peninsula,' they gave the 
name of Point Popham." l The author of the " Ancient Dominions of Maine " 
describes the precise position, as remembered in deeply marked traditions 
related by aged residents in the neighborhood. He also gives " a sketch of the 
outline remains," as they are now traceable on the shore of Atkins' Bay. 2 

These many concurrent testimonies, running through two centuries and a 
half, are sufficient to show the peninsular location of Fort St. George on the 
west side of the Kennebec. 3 

1 This statement is derived from the Rev. William 8. Bartlett, of Chelsea, Mass,, [Me. H. C, 
vol. 3, p. 285,] to whom our local history is greatly indebted for the prominence given to the 
Popham Colony in his '■ Frontier Missionary," and for introducing the work of Strachey to the 
practical knowledge of the Maine Historical Society. See also post, p. 227. 

2 Sewall's Ancient Dominions, p. 228. 

3 Post, p. 251. In later years Hun ne well, whose name has been given to the Point, had his 
dwelling on or near the same spot, as appears in an old map among the Pejepscot Papers. 




THE AUTOGRAPH OF SIR JOHN POPHAM. (1590.) 

SamueIi G. Drake, Esq., the learned antiquary of Boston, during a residence 
of a year and a half in Europe, from November, 1858, to May, 1860, devoted 
much time in examining colonial i^apers in the British State Paper Office in 
London. In these researches, lie fortunately discovered an original paper in the 
hand writing of Sir John Popham, and signed by him, bearing date 1590. 

Annexed is Mr. Drake's letter, communicating a copy of the autograph to the 
Hon. William Willis, President of the Maine Historical Society, who has thus 
made a welcome addition to the present publication. 



" Boston, Sept. 27, 18G2. 

Mr. Willis, 

Dear Sir:— -lam to thank you for your kindness in sending me a 
paper containing an account of the Popham Celebration. In my rummaging 
among the British Archives, I met with an original paper in the autograph of 
the Lord Chief Justice Popham. Thinking it may interest you, I send you a 
tracing of his signature. * * * 

Very truly yours, 

Sam'l G. Drake." 



CONTENTS 



ABBOT, E., LETTER, 

ABBOT, J. S. C, LETTER, . 

ADDENDA, .... 
ADDRESSES, 

ALLEN, W., LETTER, . 

ABIORY, T. C, LETTER, 

ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE, 

ANDREW, J. A., LETTER, 

APPENDIX, .... 

ARNOLD, S. G., LETTER, •. 

AUGUSTA, THE LOST, 



250 
256 
351 
100 
106 
202 
133 
231 
353 
215 
339 



BACHE, A. D., LETTER, 

BAILEY, B. C, LETTER, 

BALLARD, E., COMMUNICATION, 

BANCROFT, G., LETTERS, 

BARTLETT, W. S., LETTER, 

BEARDSLEY, E. E., LETTER, 

BOURNE, E. E., COMMUNICATION, 

BRADISH, L., LETTER, 

BURGESS, G., CHAPLAIN, 

BURGESS, G., ADDRESS, 

BRODHEAD, J. R., LETTER, 



215 
11 

301 
232, 329 
259 
241 
168 
235 
30 
101 
128 



CONTENTS 



CASEY, T. L., REPLY, 

CAMERON, S., APPROYAL OF NAME, 

CELEBRATION, . \ . . . 

CHAMPLAIN, ..... 

CHASE, S. P., LETTER, 

CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND COLONIZATION, 
CIRCULAR, ...... 

COAST OF MAINE, .... 

COMMITTEES, ..... 

GUSHING, C, LETTER, 



DAY, J. J., ADDRESS, 

DAWSON, J. W.. LETTER, 

DE MONTS, BIOGRAPHY OF, 

DOW, .T., LETTER, . * 

DRAKE, S. G., LETTER. 









51 








19 








26 








22, 111 








216 








317 

17 

214 

14,15 

232 


163 






253 






120 






244 








VII 



EVERETT, E. 



•LETTER 



105 



FISKE, J. O., — COMMUNICATION, 

FORT POPHAM, NAME GIVEN, 

FRANCIS, C, LETTER, 



205 

10, 19, 29 
243 



OILMAN, C. J., ADDRESS, 

GODFREY, J. E., LETTER, 

GOODWIN, I., LETTER, 

GORGES, SIR F., ^ 



29 

245 

234 

22, 41, 61 



HACKETT, W. H. Y., LETTER, 

HALL, H., LETTER, . 

HALL AM, R. A., LETTER, 

HARVEY, M., LETTER, 

HAYDEN, A., LETTER, 

HEDGE, F., LETTER, 

IIORNBLOWER, J, C, — LETTER, 



238 

247 

253 
251 
259 
239 
237 



CONTENTS 



XL 



HOWE, J,, — LETTER, 
HYMN, 



201 
348 



INVITATION, FORM OF, 



17 



JOHNSON, E. F., LETTER, . 

JOHNSTON, J., COMMUNICATION, 

JOHNSTOWN, 



333 

263 
346 



KING, C, LETTER, . 

KING, W., BIOGRAPHY OF, 



240 
205 



LETTERS, 

LAWS, CONSTITUENT CODE OF, 

LINCOLN, A., PRESIDENT U. S., LETTER, 

LIPPINCOTT, J., LETTER, 



220 

71 

230 
258 



MULGRAVE, EARL OF, LETTER, . 

MAGEE, T. D., ADDRESS, 

MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, RESOLUTION 
MANHATTAN, COLONIZATION OP, 
MAP OF SABINO, . . 

MAXWELL, J., LETTER, 

MAYOR OP BATH, CALL OF MEETING, 

MCILVAINE, C. P., LETTER, 

MCINTIRE, R., LETTER, 

McKEEN, J., 

MASONIC CEREMONIES, 

MASSACHUSETTS BAY, COLONY OF, 

MEETING AT BATH, 

MEMORIAL STONE, . , 

MONHEGAN, .... 

NAHANADA, SKETCH OF, 
NEW BRUNSWICK, 



27, 



230 
112 
17 
127 
III 
261 
13 
248 
255 
256, 305, 345 
53 
24, 156 
14 
17, 50, 51 
136, 140 

293 
179 



XII 



CONTENTS. 



NEW ENGLAND, EASTERN COAST OF, 

NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY, MONTREAL, LETTER, 

NEW JERSEY, SETTLEMENT OF, . 

NORWOOD, F., SKETCU OF GOV. PHIPS, 

NORWOOD, F., EXTRACT FROM SERMON, 

NOVA SCOTIA, 

NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ACTION OF, LETTER, 



192 
236 
177 
181 

347 
300 
236 



OLD AND NEW STYLE, 

ORDER FOR MORNING PRAYER, 

PALFREY, J. G., LETTER, 

PAVILION, PROCEEDINGS AT, 
PEMAQUID, . 
PEMAQUID CAPITAL, 
PENNSYLVANIA, . 

PERRY, W. S., COMMUNICATION, 

PETERSON, C. J., LETTER, 

PHIPS, W., SKETCH OF, 
PLYMOUTH, A NURSLING OF MAINE 
PLYMOUTH PLANTATION, 

POOR, J. A., ADDRESS, 

POPHAM, G., LETTER, 

POPHAm's letter, TRANSLATION OF, 
POPIIAM, GENEALOGY OF, 
POPHAM, SIR J., AUTOGRAPH OF, 

POPHAM, W. S., LETTER, 

PRELIMINARY, 

PRINCE, G., LETTER, 

PROGRAMME OF CELEBRATION, 

QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN, . 

RESTLESS, THE, . 
RHODE ISLAND, . 
RICE, R. D., — LETTER, 



226, 



26, 232 

30 

233 
99 

143, 263 
148 
201 
317 
257 
181 
149 
176 
57 
221 
223 

227, 229 

All 

228 

9 

251 

20 

161, 163 

154 
215 
260 



CONTENTS 



XIII 



SABINO, NAME OF, 
SABIXO, SKETCH OF PROVINCE, 
SAGADAHOC, NAME, 
SAGADAHOC, COLONY OF, 
SAGADAHOC, A DUKEDOM, 
SAMOSET, SKETCH OF, . 
SECRETARY OF WAR, 

SETVALL, G. P., LETTER, . 

8EWALL, R. K., COMMUNICATION, 

SEYMOUR, R., GENEALOGY OF, 

SHANLEY, W., LETTER, 

SHIPBUILDING, 

SIGOURNEY, L. H., POEMS, . 

SMITH, F. 0. J., . 

SPARKS, J., LETTER, , 

STEVENS, W. B., LETTER, . 

ST. George's society, Montreal, — letter, 

STORERj H. G., LETTER, 

STUART, W., LETTER, 

SULLIVAN, J., SKETCH OF, 
SUPPLEMENT, SIR FERDINANDO GORGES, 



TALBOT, G. E., COMMUNICATION, 

TANEY, R. B., LETTER, 

TERRITORY AND POPULATION 

TILLEY, S. L., LETTER, 

TOASTS PREPARED, 

TOTTEN, J. G., LETTERS, 

TURNER, W., LETTER, 

VINES. R., SKETCH OF, 
VIRGINIA, THE, 

WALBRIDGE, II., LETTER, 

WAR, a'rT of, 

WASHBURN, E., — ADDRESS, 



9 
136 

9 
137 
149 
297 
52 
250 
133 

101, 324 
217 

154, 348 
355 
205 
232 
202 
239 
244 
242 
202 
369 

193 

234 

357 

180 

22 

52, 214 

239 

168 
154 

254 
213 
155 



XIV 



CONTENTS 



WASHBURN, 1., JR., — LETTER, 
WASHBURN. I., JR., — SPEECH, 
WEST, THE, .... 

WEYMOUTH, .... 

WEYMOUTH, EXPLORATIONS BY, 

WHEELER, A. D., COMMUNICATION, 

WHEELER, A. D., HYMN, 

WHITEHEAD, W. A., LETTER, 

WILLIS, W., LETTER, 

WILLIS, W., — HISTORICAL STATEMENT, 

WINTHROP, R. C, LETTER, 

AVOODS, L., ADDRESSES, 

WRIGHT, W., — LETTER, 



231 
331 

216 

127 

301 

120 

348 

177 

12 

37 

176 

48, 60, 53 

254 



THE POPHAM CELEBRATION. 




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16 




THE POPHAM CELEBRATION. 



PRELIMINARY. 



In the arrangements made by the government of the United 
States for protecting the coast of Maine, the defense of the 
entrance of the Kennebec River and its valley received mature 
consideration. For the accomplishment of this purpose, the 
point of land on its west side and near its mouth was selected, 
and a fort of the first class was authorized by Congress to 
be built thereon. The ancient name of this portion of the 
river was " Sagadahoc," ^ and the part of the territory where 
the structure was to be placed, was the Peninsula of Sabino.- 
On this shore and near the spot thus chosen, was the site of 

1 Sagadahoc. This orthography of the name, out of twenty varieties, is the 
present generally adopted representative of the Indian " Sank-ta-onk." The 
first part of this word is abbreviated, as is usual ia these formations, from 
" Sanktaiiwi ; " the meaning of which is given in Rale's Dictionary, " To finish." 
The last syllable is a common locative termination, as in " Ken-neb-onk," equiv- 
alent to •' here," or "there." The compound name means, "It ends here," 
i. e. "the mouth" of this river; and it is so explained in Jeffries' Maps, of 
1775. 

2 The usage, in the pronunciation of aboriginal names, indicates that in words 
of this formation, the accent should be on the first syllable, as in "Kineo," 
" Orono," and others. Its origin is in the Abnaki word " sebe," meaning "a. 
river." It is also written by Strachey, " S6b'-e-noa," the last three letters form- 
ing one syllable, as in " oak." 

2 



10 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

the ancient Fort St. George, where, in the month of August, 
. 1607, the first English colony, led by the venerable George 
PoPHAM, planted the emblems of the authority of their sover- 
eign. By acts of formal occupation and possession, attended 
with the solemn sanctions of religious worship and instruction, 
in accordance with the usages of their country and time, these 
early settlers established the title of England to the continent, 
under the Royal Charter of April 10, 1606. 

The location of this fort on the soil, thus made prominent 
in its historical relations, suggested to several gentlemen, in- 
terested in the history of this State, the name of Popham, as 
the appropriate designation for this great work of national de- 
fense. The late Hon. Reuel Williams of Augusta, and the 
Hon. John A. Poor of Portland, — Commissioners at Washing- 
ton from the State of Maine to the general government on the 
subject of its coast defenses, — took means to bring this name 
before the proper authorities. The proposal received the favor 
and the prompt approval of the government of the United 
States through the Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. 

The work of construction having been commenced, sug- 
gested the plan of reviving the recollection of the important 
events, which have given to this spot its great historical value 
and interest, and of connecting them more closely with the 
name and the destinies of this fortification ; thus making it 
serve the double purpose of national defense and the preserva- 
tion of these leading occurrences of our early history. Meas- 
ures were adopted for erecting, in the walls of the Fort, a 
" Memorial Stone," with inscriptions recording the facts ; and 
for the commemorative services of a pulilic historical celebra- 
tion. 

After much consultation with several members of the Maine 
Historical Society in Portland and Brunswick, a visit by two 
gentlemen of the latter place was made to Bath, — the city 
nearest to the locality, — to confer with its influential citizens 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 11 

on the subject. The idea was met with cordial favor every- 
where. On the 10th of July, 1862, the following editorial ai> 
peared in the Bath Daily " Sentinel and Times," introducing 
a communication from a writer, who is understood to be the 
Hon. B. C. Bailey. 

SIR JOHN POPHAM'S COLONY. 

We publish below, a communication from one of our old and highly respected 
citizens, relating to an important fact in the history of our State, and sug- 
gesting the propriety of some public observance of the circumstance by our 
community. We heartily concur in the suggestion, and trust measures will be 
at once inaugurated to carry the same into effect. Local events, of such a 
nature as that mentioned, ought not certainly to be overlooked. In fact, it 
may well he questioned whether our people, to any extent, are familiar with 
the history of George Popham's settlement on our coast, and its attendant 
results. We hold it to be wise, therefore, to mark the anniversary of the event 
in some public manner ; if in no other way, by the selection of some person 
conversant with our local history, to prepare an address relating to the colony 
and its attendant circumstances, that thus information may be imparted to the 
I)eople and knowledge be diffused among us. We repeat that we trust some 
early action will be taken to carry out the suggestion in the communication, 
which is as follows : 



Mk. Lincoln: — Bath being the natural seaport of and for the Kennebec 
River, as also the Androscoggin, and in fact of all North-western Maine, it 
would seem proper that she should be a little more before the public. 

Two hundred and fifty-five years ago the 19th day of this coming August, 
George Popham, with his colony, landed at the mouth of the Kennebec and 
commenced a settlement, near where they are now building a Fort, which is to 
be called by the name of Popham. 

Would it not be well for the citizens of Bath to call a meeting and choose a 
committee of arrangements, for the purpose of celebrating the day this coming 
19th of August (old style), making it the 29th or 30th of August this year 
(new style), and invite the Historical Society of Maine to be present with their 
orator and proclaim the past history of that settlement, it being the very first 
one on this part of the continent. 

I would suggest, with humble submission to public opinion, that we have a 
meeting the first of next week, and make some arrangement for such a com- 
memoration of the day as would seem proper. 

A Citizen of Bath. 



12 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The Standing Committee of tlie Maine Historical Society- 
were ready to lend their aid to the enterprise. As the proposed 
commemoration embraced subjects fitly coming within the 
range and purposes of this institution, they deemed it a duty 
to take the initiatory steps ; and at their suggestion the Presi- 
dent of the Society, the Hon. William Willis of Portland, ad- 
dressed a letter to the Mayor of Bath, in the following words : 

LETTER OF THE HON. WILLL4M WILLIS. 

To the Honorable the Mayor of Bath. 

Sir: — The government of the United States, having selected the peninsula 
at the mouth of Kennebec River as the site of a fortress, and made prepara- 
tions for a large and expensive structure, to bear the name of " Popham," in 
honor of George Popham, President of the company of adventurers who planted, 
on the same spot, the first Enghsh colony on the shores of New England; — it 
is thought by the Maine Historical Society, that the occasion ought to be im- 
proved to commemorate this most signal event in the history of our State. 

By a singular coincidence, the new fort will occupy the same ground on which 
was erected, two hundred and fifty-five years ago, the first English fort, which 
was built on the Atlantic coast of America, north of Virginia, This little colony, 
— " one hundred landmen," — left England, May 31, 1G07, in two small vessels, 
prepared with all things needful to establish a civilized society on this continent. 
Their historian thus speaks of their early movements : " August 17, Capt. Pop- 
ham in his pynnace with thirty persons, and Capt. Gilbert in his long boat with 
eighteen persons more, went early in the morning from their shii^ps in the river 
Sachadehoc to view the river, and to search where they might find a fitt place 
for their plantation. 18th. They all went ashore and there made choice of a 
place for their plantation at the mouth or entrance of the river, on the west side, 
being almost an island." The next day, in true Puritan style, although they 
were not strictly Puritans, they commenced their grand undertaking, the open- 
ing a new world to civilization, by religious services. The historian says : " 19th. 
They all went ashore, where they had made choice of their plantation, and 
where they had a sermon delivered unto them by their preacher." They then 
entered on their work in earnest. " Aug. 20. All went to shore again and there 
.began to entrench and make a fort, and to build a store-house." 

The place selected for their settlement was Hunnewell's Point, precisely the 
spot chosen by the government for the new fortress; it was there this company 
spent a cold and dreary winter, and there the gallant Popham lies buried. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 13 

The work of construction is already begun, and the superintending engineer 
has given assurance that he will permit a commemorative tablet to be inserted 
in the wall, which shall perpetuate the first attempt to colonize the State, and 
mark the wonderful progress of our countiy. 

I am instructed by the Standing Committee of the Historical Society to call 
the attention of the citizens of Bath to this subject, and to urge that they will 
not only co-operate in a suitable commemoration of this great event, but that 
they will take the lead in making arrangements for the occasion. 

It is a custom not less honorable than useful, in all nations, to celebrate the 
leading events of their history ; thus reviving and keeping alive in posterity 
the virtuous deeds, the patient fortitude, and the gallant services of the foiind- 
ers of their States, and of those who have illustrated their annals by their lives. 
If the Rock of Plymouth is annually remembered, — if the landing at James- 
town finds a perpetual echo in song, — if the 4th of July and the 22d of Feb- 
ruary, shall never fail to inspire the hearts of loyal Americans, let not the land- 
ing of the first English colony in Maine sink into oblivious silence ! 

Your obedient servant, 

William Willis, 

President of the Maine Historical Society. 

The request, so suitably presented in this communication, 
was promptly responded to by the Mayor, who accordingly is- 
sued the following call for a preliminary meeting, to be held 
as therein indicated : 

CALL OF THE MEETING BY THE MAYOR OP BATH. 

Notice. — In compliance with the request of the Maine Historical Society, 
as expressed in a communication of its President, Hon. William Willis, as to 
some commemoration in a public manner by our community, of the landing of 
Popham's Colony on the shores of Maine, I invite the citizens of Bath and vicin- 
ity to meet at the City Hall, on Monday evening the 28th in&t., at 7 1-2 o'clock, 
for consultation and cooperation. I. Putnam, Mayor. 

Bath, July 21, 1862. 

The issuing of this call at once led to inquiry and discussion 
in private circles and in the newspapers, not only of Maine, 
but of other States. 



14 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The " Maine State Press " of Portland, gave the following 
account of the meeting, held in accordance with the call : 

CELEBRATION AT FORT POPHAM. 

In accordance with a suggestion of the Maine Historical Society, made through 
its President to tlie Mayor of Bath, and a notice by said Mayor publislied in 
the papers of that city, a meeting was lield in the City Hall at that place, on 
Monday evening, to take preliminary action relative to the proper observance 
of the landing and settlement of the first English Colony in New England, at 
the mouth of the Kennebec Kiver, near the present site of Fort Popham, in the 
month of August, 1607. The meeting was largely attended, not only by influ- 
ential citizens of Bath, but by a large delegation from this city, and by gentle- 
men from Wiscasset, Phipsburg, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Gorham, Bidde- 
ford, Kennebunk, and other places. 

The meeting was called to order by Hon. B.C. Bailey of Bath, on whose 
motion Hon. Israel Putnam, Mayor of that city was invited to preside. Rev. 
Henry W. Rugg of Bath, was chosen Secretary. Various remarks, explanatory 
of the objects of the meeting, and of the importance to American colonization 
and the spread of English civilization, of the event proposed to be celebrated, 
were made ; when, on motion of Rev. John 0. Fiske of Bath, a committee of 
five was selected to propose to the meeting a suitable list of gentlemen to act as 
an Executive Committee to carry into effect the objects of the meeting. This 
Committee consisted of Hon. Amos Nourse and John Hayden, Esq., of Bath, 
John A. Poor, Esq., of this city, R. K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset, and Rev. 
Edward Ballard of Brunswick. 

The committee, after mature deliberation, reported the following gentlemen 
for the proposed committee, which report was unanimously accepted, to wit : 

Bath, — Hon. B. C. Bailey, Rev. John 0. Fiske, Oliver Moses, Esq., Col. 

Frederick D. Sewall, Col. James T. Patten, John B. Swanton, Esq. 
Brunswick, — Rev. Edward Ballard, Hon. Charles J. Gilman. 
TopSHAM, — Rev. A. D. Wheeler, D. D. 
Phipsburg, — Rev. Francis Norwood, Moses Riggs, Esq. 
Georgetown, — Thomas M. Reed, Esq. 
Gardiner, — Hon. Noah Woods, Rev. Frederick Gardiner. 
Hallowell, — Charles Dummer, Esq., Ebenezer Rowell, Esq. 
Augusta, — Hon. James W. Bradbury, Hon. James G. Blaine. 
Wiscasset, — Alexander Johnston, Esq., Rufus K. Sewall, Esq. 
GoRHAM, — Hon. Josiah Pierce. 
Portland, — Rev. Alexander Burgess, lion. Jedediah Jewett, William P. 

Preble, Esq. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 15 

Saco, — Hon. Philip Eastman. 

BiDDEFOKD, — Hon. William P. Haines. 

Kennebunk. — Hon. Edward E. Bourne. 

Alfred, — Hon. John H. Goodenow. 

Bangor, — Hon. Elijah L. Hamlin, Hon. John E. Godfrey. 

Oldtown, — Hon. George Popham Sewall. 

WiNSLow, — Hon. Joseph Eaton. 

Belfast, — Joseph Williamson, Esq. 

Waterville, — Rev. J. T. Champlin, D. D. 

Lewiston, — Hon. John M. Frye. 

Farmington, — Hon. Robert Goodenow, Hon. Hannibal Belcher. 

Calais, — Hon. George Downes. 

Eastport, — Hon. Bion Bradbury. 

Houlton, — Hon. Shepard Gary. 

NoREiDGEwocK, — Hon. Jolin S. Tenney. 

Machias, — William B. Smith, Esq. 

It was voted that the gentlemen of the foregoing list, selected from Bath, 
Brunswick, Topsham, Phipsburg, and Georgetown, being in the immediate 
neighborhood, shall constitute the Executive Committee, with power to increase 
their numbers, and that the other gentlemen named be an advisory, or assistant 
committee. 

During the evening exceedingly interesting and felicitous remarks were made 
by Hon. C. J. Gilman, Brunswick ; John A, Poor, Esq., Hon. John Neal, 
Hon. Woodbury Davis, and Rev. Alex. Burgess, of Portland; Rev. J. 0. Fiske, 
Hon. Amos Nourse, Hon. William D. Sewall, Hon. D. C. Magoun, and John Hay- 
den, Esq., of Bath ; R. K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset ; Hon. William P. Haines, of 
Biddeford; Prof. Alpheus S. Packard, of Bowdoin College; Hon. Edward E. 
Bourne, of Kennebunk, and others. The meeting was very enthusiastic, and 
the speakers were frequently interrupted by applause. 

The affair has opened very auspiciously ; and a circular, to be issued in a 
few days, will more definitely set forth the reasons why such an observance as 
is proposed, should be had ; and give some of the proposed details to be ob- 
served. The celebration is designed to be the event, to Maine, of the year j and 
to be worthy of our great and glorioTis commonwealth. 

The members of the Executive Committee present organized 
themselves, after the meeting was adjourned, by choosing the 
Hon. B. C. Bailey, Chairman, and the Rev. J. 0. Fiske, Sec- 
retary, both of Bath. At a meeting held at Bath on the next 
week, Mr. Fiske, in consequence of a pressure of duties, re- 



16 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

signed his office, and the Rev. Edward Ballard, of Brunswick, 
was elected in his place. The Hon. Charles J. Oilman of 
Brunswick, was appointed Marshal of the day, with power to 
appoint assistants and secure conveyance by railroad. The 
Hon. Mr. Bailey and Col. James T. Patten of Bath, were re- 
quested to secure means of transportation, by water, from that 
city to the Fort, and provide platforms and seats for the accom- 
modation of the speakers and the assembly. The members of 
the committee in Portland were also requested to make ar- 
rangements for procuring a tent, and for transportation from 
that city. On the nomination of the Rev. J. 0. Fiske, the 
Right Rev. Oeorge Burgess, Bishop of the Diocese of Maine, 
was requested to take charge of the religious services of the 
occasion ; and on motion oi the Hon. C. J. Oilman, the Hon. 
John A. Poor was appointed the orator of the day. It was 
also voted that the Orand Lodge of the Masonic Fraternity of 
the State be invited to be present on the occasion, and contrib- 
ute their aid in placing the " Memorial Stone " according to 
the usages and ceremonies of their ancient Order. 

The Executive Committee resolved to fill vacancies and add 
to the number of members already appointed, as might be de- 
sirable ; and thereupon, at a subsequent meeting, held on 
August 1st, they elected Rev. S. F. Dike, of "Bath ; Hon. John 
A. Poor, John Neal, Esq., Rev. Wm. Stevens Perry, of Port- 
land ; Capt. James Drummond, E. S. J. Neally, Esq., of Bath; 
Samuel Fairhaven, Esq., of Woolwich ; H. S. Hagar, Esq., of 
Richmond ; Edward S. Little, Esq., of Auburn ; Hon. Oeorge 
C. Oatchell, of North Anson ; Hon. Abner Coburn, of Skow- 
hegan ; Capt. Horace A. Oray, of Bowdohiham ; and Hon. 
Franklin Smith, of Waterville. 

On the 7th of August, at the Annual Meeting of the Maine 
Historical Society, held at Brunswick, the following )-esolution 
was proposed and unanimously adopted : 



POPHAM CELEBKATION. 17 

On motion, 

B,efiolved, That this Society has heard with great satisfaction, of the proposed 
celebration to commemorate the founding of the First English Colony on the 
shores of New England, under Captain George Popham, on the 29th day of 
August current; and approves the action of the Standing Committee in causing 
public attention to be called thereto ; and will prepare a " Memorial Stone," 
to be placed, with the consent of the General Government, in the walls of the 
Fort now building, which is to bear his honored name." 

On the same day the Executive Committee met again at 
Brunswick, and adopted the following form of invitation : 

PUBLIC HISTORICAL CELEBRATION. 

AuarsT 12, 1862. 

The undersigned solicit the honor of the company of and 

ladies at the public celebration, on the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniver- 
sary of the founding of the first English Colony on the shores of New England, 
August 19, 1607 [0. S.] ; to take place at ^le site of Fort Popham, near the 
place of the original Fort St. Oeorge, at the mouth of the Kennebec River, in 
the ancient Province of Sabino, August 29, 1862 [N. S.]. 

Executive Committee. — B. C. Bailey, John 0. Fiske, Oliver Moses, F. D. 
Sewall, J, T. Patten, John B. Swanton, James Drummond, E. S. J. Nealley, 
S. F. Dike, C. J. Gilman, A. D. Wheeler, Francis Norwood, Thomas M. Reed, 
Moses Riggs. Edward Ballard, Secretary. 

The favor of an answer is requested. 

The following circular, having been considered and approved, 
was sent on a printed sheet with the cards of invitation. 

ENGLISH COLONIZATK)N IN AMERICA. — PUBLIC CELEBRATION. 

The colonization of the continent of North America by the Anglo-Saxon race, 
first attempted by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and followed by Sir Walter Raleigh 
and Sir Richard Grenville, without success, was finally accomphshed by Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges, who obtained from King James the charter of April 10, 
1606, under the broad basis of which the subsequent settlements were made. The 
voyages of Bartholomew Gosnold, in 1602; of Martin Pring, in 1603, and of 
George Weymouth, in 1605, — all incipient measures towards a common end, — 
were under the guidance or patronage of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the Governor 



18 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of the Island and Fort of Pljmiouth, and his friend, the Earl of Southampton, 
the illustrious friend and patron of Shakespeare. In May, 1606, the Lord Chief 
Justice of England, Sir John Popham, having become associated in the enter- 
prise, sent out Captain Haines, " in a tall ship belonging to Bristol and the river 
Severne, to settle a plantation in the river of Sagadahoc," but from the failure 
of the master to follow the course ordered, the ship fell into the hands of the 
Spaniards by capture, and the expedition failed of success. In August of the 
same year, a ship sent out by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, under command of Henry 
Challong, for the same purpose, — the two designed to form one expedition, — 
shared a similar fate. So that in consequence of these mishaps, Virginia was 
occupied prior to Maine. The expedition of Captain Newport, to the Chesapeake, 
which sailed December ]9th, 1606, landed at Jamestown, May 13th, 1607. 

On the 31st of May, 1607, the first colony to New England .sailed from 
Plymouth for the Sagadahoc, in two ships, — one, called the ^- Gift cf God,''' 
whereof George Popham, brother of the chief justice, was commander ; the 
other, the " J[/«/-y and /o7i«," which Raleigh Gilbert commanded, — onboard 
which ships were one hundred and twenty persons, for planters. They came to 
anchor under an island, supposed to be Monhegan, the 31st of July. After ex- 
ploring the coast and islands, on Sunday, the 9th of Aug., 1607, they landed on 
an island they called St. George, where they had a sermon delivered unto them by 
Mr. Seymour, their preacher, and*returned aboard again. On the 15th of Aug., 
they anchored under Seguin, and on that day the ■' Gift of God " got into the 
river of Sagadahoc. On the 16th, both ships got safely in and came to anchor. 
On the 17th, in two boats, they sailed up the river, — Captain Popham in his pin- 
nace, witli thirty persons, and Captain Gilbert in his long boat, with eighteen 
persons, and " found it a very gallant river ; with many good islands therein, 
and many branches of other small rivers falling into it," and returned. On the 
the 18th, they all went ashore, and then made choice of a place for their plan- 
tation, at the mouth or entry of the river, on the west side, (for the river bend- 
eth towards the nor-east and by east), being almost an island, of good bigness, 
in a province called bj' the Indians, " Sabino," — so called of a Sagamore, or 
chief commander, under the grand bashaba. 

On the 19th, they all went ashore, where they had made choice of their plant- 
ation, and w^here they had a sermon delivered unto them by their preacher, 
and after the sermon the President's commission was read, with the laws to be 
observed and kept. 

George Popham, gent., was nominated President. 

Captain Raleigh Gilbert, 

James Davies, 

Richard Seymour, Preacher, 

Captain Richard Davies, 

Captain Harlowe, 
were all sworn assistants ; and so they returned back again. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 19 

Thus commenced the first occupation and settlement of New England, and 
from which date the title of England to the new world remained unquestioned. 
At this I'lace they opened a friendly trade with the natives, put up houses, and 
built a small vessel, during the autumn and winter. 

On the 5th of February, 1608, George Popham died, and his remains were 
deposited within the walls of his fort, which was named Fort St. George. 

We necessarily pass over the next two hundred and fifty years of history. 

Congress having made an appropriation for a fort at the mouth of the Ken- 
nebec, — the ancient Sagadahoc, — the following correspondence, copied from 
the files of the War Office, shows the action of the Secretary of War in the 
matter, and the fitness of the name selected for the new fort, which is called 
Fort Popuam : 

" To THE Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War : 

The undersigned, citizens of Maine, respectfully request that the new fort 
to be erected at the mouth of the Kennebec River, in Maine, may be named 
Fort Popham, in honor of Captain George Popham, brother of the learned 
Chief Justice Popham, of England. 

Captaiti George Popham, as the Governor of the first English Colony in New 
England, built a fort at or near the site of the proposed fort, in the year 1607, 
where he died, February 5th, 1608, and was buried, being the first person of his 
race whose bones were laid beneath the soil of New England, and whose grave 
will be approriately marked by the fort that rises over his place of burial. 

[Signed] John A. Poor, 

Recel Williams. 
Washington, Nov. 18, 1861." 

This proposal for a name was favorably received at the Engineer Bureau, by 
General Totten, who laid the matter before the Secretary of War. 

On the 23d of November, General Cameron acted on the foregoing petition, 
and entered thereon : — " Name approved. 

Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. 

War Department, Washington, Nov. 23, 1861." 

It has been proposed that a memorial stone, with an appropriate inscription, 
be inserted in the wall of this new fort, and this event made the occasion of a 
public celebration, commemorating not only the first settlement of New Eng- 
land, but doing honor to the memory of the man, who led to it, the first British 
Colony, and who, after honorably discharging the duties of his office, and pre- 
senting a report, in the form of a letter, to the King, dated Fort St. George, 



20 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

• 

December 13th, 1607, here laid down his hfe, — the first man of the English 
race whose bones are laid beneath the soil of New England. 

The 19th of August, 1607, Old Style, corresponds to the 29th of August of the 
present calendar. The daj' on which, with religious services, they dedicated 
the spot and inaugurated their government, is appropriately fixed upon for the 
proposed celebration. This year the anniversary day falls on Friday, August 
29th. 

The following programme having been prepared by the part 
of the Executive Committee, to whom the charge of this por- 
tion of the arrangements had been entrusted, was advertised 
in tlie newspapers of the State, and distributed in the form of 
handbills : 

HISTORICAL CELEBRATION AT FORT POPHAM, AUGUST 29, 1862, 

There will be a public celebration of the founding of the first British Colony 
on the shores of New England, under the authority of the Royal Charter of 
April 10th, 1606, at the site of the ancient Fort St. George, on the Peninsula of 
Sabino, at the mouth of the Kennebec River, which Avill take place on Friday, 
August 29th, 1862, the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the inaugura- 
tion of the first civil government on these shores. 

Special Trains, leaving Portland and AugQsta at 7 A. M., will be run over 
the Kennebec and Portland Railroad, leaving Brunswick at 8 A. M., connecting 
at Bath with the steamers running to and from the site of Fort Popham, return- 
ing to Portland and to Augusta, stopping at the intermediate places on the same 
evening after the celebration services are completed. 

Excursion tickets over the railroad will be sold at half price, or $1.25 down 
and back. From Brunswick and Topsham, fifty cents for tickets both ways. 
Trains will also run over the Androscoggin Railroad at half price, connecting 
at Brunswick with the trains to Bath. Fares from all other intermediate sta- 
tions at half price ; and on the steamers, twenty-five cents. 

Tickets admitting parties upon the parade of the fort and to the collation 
will be thirty-seven cents. Parties arriving on the ground by the other modes 
of conveyance will also be furnished with tickets to the grounds of the celebra- 
tion and to the collation at the same price. The collation will be spread in the 
great tent, and no one admitted to it without a ticket. 

The Hon. C. J. Gilman of Brunswick will be chief marshal of the day, with 
assistant marshals, who will assign places to the various parties admitted to the 
grounds, and within the tent. At lOJ^ o'clock A. M., the chief marshal will 
call to order and announce the objects and purposes of the celebration. 

The Hon. William Willis, President of the Maine Historical Society, will then 



POPHAM CELEBRATION, 



21 



make a brief historical statement, and invite tlie Rev. George Burgess, D. D., 
Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Maine, to conduct the religious services in 
those forms of the church made use of at the time of the founding of Popham's 
Colony. Printed forms will then be distributed. 

The service concluded, the President of the Historical Society will invite his 
Excellency, Israel Washburn, Jr., Governor of Maine, to cause the Memorial 
Stone to be put in place, by the consent of the United States Government, in 
accordance with the request of the Maine Historical Society. Accepting this 
trust with an allusion to the historic importance of the occasion. Gov. Washburn 
will invite Leonard Woods, D. D., President of Bowdoin College, to take charge 
of the work. 

Addressing Gen. Totten or Capt. T. L. Casey, the officer in charge, and 
receiving in reply the assent of the government, Dr. Woods will invite the Ma- 
sonic Fraternity to cause the Memorial Stone to be put into its place, with the 
appropriate forms of their ancient order. Hon. Josiah H. Drummond, Grand 
Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine, will then proceed with the ceremonj', 
and its conclusion will be followed by appropriate music. This will be followed 
by an address by John A. Poor, Esq., of Portland, the orator of the day. 

From the fort the company will march to the pavilion, where Judge Kent 
of Bangor will preside, assisted by vice-presidents, one from each county, as 
follows : 

York, Hon. Philip Eastman. 

CuMBEKLAND, .... HoH. John B. Brown. 

Lincoln, Hon. Isaac Reed. 

Hancock, Hon. Andrew Peters. 

Washington, .... Hon. Aaron Hayden. 

Kennebec, .... Hon. Joseph H. Williams. 

Oxford, Dr. Isaiah B. Bradley. 

Penobscot, .... Hon. William C. Hammatt, 

Somerset, .... Hon. Abner Coburn, 

Waldo, Hon. William G. Crosby. 

Franklin, .... Hon. Samuel Belcher. 

Piscataquis, .... Hon. John H. Rice. 

Androscoggin, . . . A. D. Lockwood, Esq. 

Sagadahoc, .... Hon. B. C. Bailey. 

Aroostook, .... Hon. E. Woodbury. 

York, Hon. N. A. Farwell, 

Toastmastek, — Hon. George Popham Sewall. 

In response to appropriate sentiments, speeches will be made by eminent men 
from different parts of the United States and the British Provinces. 

Per Order of the Executive Committee, 

EnwARD BAMiAHD, '^ecrcirn-'/. 



22 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

By subsequent arrangements the committee agreed on the 
following Toasts, — the order to be changed as circumstances 
might require, — to each of which they invited responses from 
distinguished g-entlemcn in different parts of the United States 
and of British North America : 

TOASTS FOR THE POPHAM CELEBRATION. 

The IQth of August [0. S.], 1607, — ever memorable as the day that witnessed 
the consummation of the title of England to the New World, by the formal oc- 
cupation and possession of New England, under the Royal Charter of April 10, 
1606. 

The President of the United States. 

The Queen of Great Britain. 

The Memory of George Popham, — who led hither the first English Colony ; be- 
came the head of its government by the election of his companions, and left his 
bones to mingle with the soil of New England, upon the Peninsula of Sabino. 

The Memory of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, — the Father of English Colonization in 
America. 

Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, — patron of Letters and of American 
Colonization; the friend and associate of Sir Ferdinando Gorges; whose joint, 
labors procured the Royal Charter of April 10, 1606 ; the basis ou which rests 
the title of our race to the New World. 

Sir John Popham, — the able, learned, and upright Chief Justice of England, by 
the appointment of Elizabeth; under the shadow of whose great name was laid 
the foundation of the Colossal Empire of the Western World. 

Ifaritime Adventure and Discovery, — illustrated by the men of Bristol and the 
Severne ; whose Cabots and Gilberts pointed the way to the northern shores of 
the New AVorld. The name of Raleigh Gilbert shall ever be honored for his 
fidelity in conducting to these shores the colony of Popham. 

The Memory of Sieur de Champlain, — the fearless navigator and accomplished 
statesman ; the first to explore and designate these shores ; whose plans of em- 
pire, more vast and sagacious than any of his time, failed of success only 
through the short-sightedness of his sovereign, in allowing the Atlantic shores 
of New England to fall into the hands of his rivals, thereby changing the his- 
tory of the New World. 

Richard Vines, — the faithful friend of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whose occupation 
of the country, to the time of his appointment as Deputy Governor of the 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 23 

" Province of Mayne," in 1644, upheld the title of his nation against the French, 
and saved New England to his country. 

Fierre du Gas, Seigneur Be Slants, — the Patentee of the first charter of Henry 
of Navarre, who sacrificed empire and fortune rather than his religious faith, 
and beheld tlie fairest portion of the continent, which he had apparently se- 
cured to his nation, pass into the hands of his rivals. 

George Weymouth, — the early explorer of the coast of New England ; memora- 
ble for his description of our own coast and his exploration of " the most excel- 
lent and beneficyall river of Sachadehoc." 

The Ancient Dominions of Maine, — Sabino, Sagadahoc, Sheepscot, Pemaquid, 
and Monhegan ; the theater of early maritime discovery and settlement ; the 
designed seat of empire of our colonial ancestors. 

The Colonization of Manhattan — by the Hollanders ; whose tolerant spirit and 
commercial enterprise laid the foundation of the great metropolis of the New 
World. 

Captain John Smith, — the daring soldier and navigator ; whose eiforts in acts of 
government in Virginia, and of naval skill in exploring and defining the bound- 
aries of New England, which he made known by maps and description, give his 
name a place among the great men of his time. 

The Mountains and the Seas, — Hindrances to the sluggish, — helps to the ad- 
venturous. 

The brotherhood of Nations, — the holiest of all brotherhoods ; requiring only 
that mankind should remember their parentage, their relationship, and their 
inheritance. 

The Fall of Quebec, — under the leadership of the heroic Wolfe, in 1759, which 
gave peace, security, and progress to the frontier settlements of the colonies, 
and supremacy to English power in North America. 

Sir William Fhips, — the ship carpenter of Woolwich, — the bold seaman and 
adventurer, the Baronet, the successful General and Governor. His life and 
character illustrated the spirit and genius of New England. 

The Coast Line of Maine, — the nursery of seamen ; affording the highest ad- 
vantages for maritime and commercial pursuits ; more deeply indented than any 
on the globe. The efforts and skill of modern science have laid open its most 
secret recesses to the uses of commerce. 

The Eastern Coast of Neiv England, — the arena of the conflict of the races, 
where alternated the fortunes of the French and English. 

The Saco, — the home of Vines and companions in IGIG, and flie first seat of 
justice, in which the forms of the common law were put into practice. 



24 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Petmsylvania, — to whose archives we are indebted for the only exact account 
of Arnold's expedition to Canada, 

The Memory of Ex- Governor King.— the first Governor of Maine after she ceased 
to be a Province of Massachusetts, and became one of the States of the Union. 

Change and Progress, — these make up the history of the world, mental, moral, 
and physical. Slowly were they written upon its pages, till Fulton, Stephen- 
'son, Henry, and Morse, solved the problem of intercommunication by steam 
and lightning. 

The Virginia of Sagadahoc, — the first vessel built on the North American 
continent; the germ of that naval architecture which has made Maine the fore- 
most community of the world in shipbuilding. 

Plymouth Plantation, — founded by men of strong faith, of earnest piety; 
educated under the teachings of Robinson and Brewster at Leyden, they were 
fitted to become pioneers in the new movement toward civil and religious liberty. 

Nova Scotia, — the earliest battle ground of the races upon this continent ; 
the home of the loyalist in Revolutionary times. Distinguished for the fascina- 
tions of its scenery and its treasures of mineral wealth, but still more distin- 
guished for the intelligence of its people and the ability of its public men. 

New BrunsivicJc, — cotemporaneous with Maine in origin and neighboring in 
territory ; may our bonds of good fellowship never be broken. 

The Colony of Massachusetts^ Bay, — founded in 1629, by men of the same un- 
conquerable will as those that brought royalty to the block, and discarded pre- 
scription as heresy. Their descendants have ever shown a faithful adherence 
to the doctrine of " Uniformity." 

The Heroes of 1776, — may the men of to-day prove themselves worthy to be 
called their sons. 

New Jersey, — where the Northmen of the Scandinavian Peninsula founded 
their first colony in the New World. 

The Valley of the 3Iississippi, — the garden of the world. Its development in 
population, wealth, and power, — in all that constitutes progress in the highest 
civilization, finds no parallel in history. 

The Art of War, — the only guarantee of the blessings of peace. For the 
vast improvements in the means of attack and defense of the present day, our 
country is mainly indebted to the ability, caution, and consummate skill of the 
distinguished Chief of the Bureau of Engineers of the Army of the United 
States. 

The West, — The proudest achievement of modern civilization. The march 
of empire Westward, — unlike the conquering hordes of Atilla, or the advance 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 25 

of the Tartar tribes of Tamerlane, — diffuses peace, plenty, and content among 
the teeming millions, that throng the vast domain of the Mississippi vallej-. 

Hhode Island, — the early home of toleration, and of civil and religious free- 
dom, — the greatness of whose example is in inverse proportion to the extent 
of her territory. 

The Clergy of Xeiv England, — who, by their early and assiduous devotion to 
popular education, became the architects of our civilization. Their teachings 
and influence have saved our prosperity from degenerating into luxury, and 
have helped to preserve in our children the fidelity to principle and the fear of 
God, which characterized the fathers and founders of the New England colonies. 

The Rights of Xeiv England Citizenship}, — Hard Work with Freedom ; Hard 
Thought with Generosity ; Hard Fighting with Patience unto Victory. 

Poetry and Art, — twin products of civilization, at once the loftiest expres- 
sions of human genius and the most elevating in their influence on mankind, — 
tlie works of a Longfellow and an Akers attest that their growth is native to 
our soil, and that after the lapse of two centuries and a half, the wilderness, in 
this highest efflorescence of humanity, has indeed been made " to blossom as 
the rose." 

Diplomacy: the Iiistrtiment of International Conciliation, — wisely used by the 
Master's hand ; may it guide us as it has guided our periled ship of State past 
the threatened dangers of foreign intervention, and while restoring our own, 
preserve the world's peace. 

The Memory of Governor Sullivan, — the earliest Historian of his native State, 
and the honored Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, of 
which Maine then constituted a part ; his residence on the banks of the Ken- 
nebec fitted him for the study of the earliest annals of our State, and made him 
eminent not only in the department of law and of statesmanship, but of history. 



THE CELEBRATION 



The day, — Friday, August 29tli,^ — appointed for the fulfil- 
ment of the design of the various actions of the committee, 

1 Some inquiries were made for the reasons of tlie selection of the 29th day, 
rather than the 30th, for the commemoration ; as the opinion had been held that 
eleven days, in that century, instead of ten, should be added to the dale in the 
Old Style to bring it to the proper day in the New. The following article, from 
the " Brunswick Telegraph," furnishes a suitable explanation : 

Old Style and New Style. — When the announcement of the day for the 
celebration at Fort Popham was made, it was thought, spoken, and written, 
that a mistake had been committed in adding ten days to change the date, 
August 19, 1607, 0. S., to August 29, 18G2, N. S., instead of eleven. But the 
decision was right for the years in that century. In a late number of the His- 
torical and Genealogical Register, published in Boston, there is an allusion to the 
real error, made in regard to the day for commemorating the landing of the 
Pilgrims at Plymouth, in placing it one day too late. The first celebration of 
that event was held on " Friday, December 22, 17G9." The writer proceeds to 
say: "A mistake was then made in reducing the Old Style date (Deo. 11), to 
New Style, which caused them to select the wrong day for the celebration. The 
mistake was not noticed for some time ; and when it was discovered, the eri'or 
was too firmly fixed in the public mind to be easily removed. An effort, how- 
ever, was made in 1819, to change the celebration to the true day. Acommit- 
tee was appointed by the Pilgrim Society, December 15th, of that year, who 
reported, May 27th, 1850, that the 21st of December was the true anniversary 
of the landing, and recommended that this day be celebrated in future, instead 
of the 22d. The report was accepted by the Society, and a vote passed in ac- 
cordance with the recommendation of the committee. We believe, however, 
that the force of habit has proved stronger that the love of truth, and that the 
Pilgrim Society has rescinded its vote, and again celebrates the 22d of Decem- 
ber." Thus it is evident, that the believers in Popham celebrate a true event 
on the right day and place ; but the believers in Plymouth Rock commemorate 
a true event in the right place, but on the wrong day. 



POPII AM CELEBRATION. 2i 

was as clear and beautiful as the season could allow. The re- 
sponse to the notice and invitations was given by thousands of 
persons of both sexes, from this and other States, and from the 
British Provinces. The railroad accommodations, though spe- 
cially provided and judiciously intended to be ample, were in- 
sufficient to afford passage to many, who were seeking to par- 
ticipate in the expected enjoyments of the day. Difficulty also 
was feared in finding means of conveyance by water from Bath 
to the mouth of the Kennebec, as the government had taken 
into its employ the principal steamers that had usually plied 
on the river and on the other steamboat routes in Maine. Two 
tug boats with two barges each had been secured by Col. J. T. 
Patten, the committee, for the purpose. But they were filled 
to the utmost, and had departed before the arrival of the cars 
from Portland, Augusta, and Lewiston, as had also a stern 
wheel boat from Augusta, which made a second trip at a later 
hour. Fortunately for the accommodation of the multitude 
thus arriving, a steamljoat from Bangor, independently of the 
efforts of the committee, had been placed at the depot wharf, 
and with its capacious barges, fully met the emergency. 

After the necessary delay in receiving on board this large 
number of persons, the trip commenced favoraljly, and was en- 
livened at intervals with patriotic and other music of the 
Band from Fort Preble, engaged for the occasion, and another 
provided by the boat from Bangor. The waters of the river 
had already been made historical by the entrance of Captain 
George Weymouth [1605], in the ship "Archangel," and his ex- 
plorations on its western shore ;^ and minds, familiar with the 
records of those first events of English enterprise, delighted to 
recall the distant past, to compare it with the changes to the 
present, and to dwell on other topics suited to the time, the 

1 See the statements of Stracliej', Hubbard, and Prince. Purchase added to 
the narrative of Rosier, and thus led Belknap into an error, as has been truly 
sliown by the late John McKeen, Esq. — Me. Hist. Col. Vol. 5. 



28 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

excursion, and its object. Large numbers of persons readied 
the place also from different quarters by steamboats, yachts, 
and small boats on the water, and by vehicles of various kinds 
on the land, and "vvere ready to greet the large crowd on the 
fourth boat from Bath with welcoming cheers. The vessels in 
the harbor were gaily dressed, and conspicuous among them 
was the Revenue Cutter, decorated Avith the flags of Old and 
New England, and which had been furnished by the Hon. Jed- 
ediah Jewett, Collector of the port of Portland, to give aid on 
the festive occasion, and which had brought the President and 
members of the Historical Society, and other gentlemen of dis- 
tinction. When all were assembled on the shore the numbers 
were variously estimated at from five to seven thousand. So 
large a multitude had hardly been expected ; and, coming from 
many different places, near and distant, with thoughts converg- 
ing to one object, it was an unexpected incident, that showed 
the interest of the public mind in the purpose of the gathering, 
and will be long remembered as one of the most cheering cir- 
cumstances of the commemoration, to show that the design had 
already in good part been accomplished. 

AT THE FORT. 

The first place of gathering was on the parade of the Fort, 
now in process of erection, on the eastern point of the penin- 
sula of the ancient province of Sabino, where a platform for 
the opening services had been judiciously prepared by the 
Hon. B. C. Bailey, who also provided the platform, seats, and 
tables, in the tent. This position was in full view of the mouth of 
the river, the high grounds of the peninsula, the opposite shore, 
the broad ocean, and the neighboring islands. On this plat- 
form were assembled the President and members of the His- 
torical Society, the Bishop of the Diocese and the clergy of 
different denominations. Presidents and Professors of Bowdoin 



POPHAM CELEBPvATION. 29 

and Waterville Colleges, Representatives of the State and Gen- 
eral Governments, the Orator of the day, and gentlemen of 
distinction from this and neighboring States and from the 
British Provinces. The large audience was called to order by 
the Hon. C. J. Gilman, the Marshal of the day, who thereupon 
made the following remarks : 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. C. J. GILMAN. 

Two hundred and fifty-five years ago this day, under the 
auspices of a Royal charter granted by King James, there as- 
sembled on the Peninsula of Sabino, and near to this spot, a 
party of Englishmen, who formed the first ci\dl and Protestant 
government of the New World, and by formal occupation and 
possession, established the title of England to the continent. 
In the year 1607, in the month of August, on the 19th day of 
the month, the Commission of George Popham for the Presi- 
dency of the new Government was read. Captain Raleigh 
Gill^ert, James Davies, Richard Seymour, the preacher, Capt. 
Richard Davies, and Capt. Harlow, were all sworn assistants. 

In commemoration of this event, the Historical Society of this 
State, in correspondence with citizens in different parts of the 
State, have concurred in this celebration ; and it is proposed 
from time to time, in the valley of the Sagadahoc, on the Penin- 
sula of Sabino, to recall and to illustrate the events of the past, 
and by this and future celebrations to assign to Maine her true 
historic position. On this spot, under the direction of the dis- 
tinguished Chief of the Bureau of Engineers, and his accom- 
plished assistants, a Fort is in process of construction. In 
compliance with a petition of John A. Poor and Reuel Wil- 
liams, dated Washington, November 18th, 1861, Simon Cam- 
eron, then Secretary of War, with the approval of Gen. Totten, 
determined to associate this Fort with the name of " Popham" 
and the history of his colony. 



30 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

In order that the record of events, which here trans- 
pired, may be made still more vivid and impressive, it has been 
thought fit and proper to insert in the wall of the Fort a " Me- 
morial Stone." The President of the Historical Society, the 
President of Bowdoin College, the representative of the gov- 
ernment of the State, the representative of the government of 
the United States, and the Grand Masonic Lodge of Maine, in 
the disposition and adjustment of this stone, will participate. 
Before the commencement of these interesting exercises, let us 
imitate the example of those who stood here two hundred and 
fifty-five years ago this day. As the Rev. Richard Seymour, 
Chaplain of the Colony Avas invited to perform acts of religious 
worship then, so now do I invite the Right Rev, George Bur- 
gess, Bishop of the Diocese of Maine, to perform acts of re- 
ligious worship according to the ceremonial of the Episcopal 
Church of that day. 

In accordance with this request, the Bishop proceeded to the 
religious duties of the occasion, using, as nearly as the changed 
circumstances of the case would allow, the same services, taken 
from the Prayer Book of the time of King James, as were em- 
ployed by the colonists in their solemnities on the day com- 
memorated, under the guidance of their Chaplain, the Rev. 
Richard Seymour. They were as follows : 

AN ORDER FOR MORNING PRAYER. . 

At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of 
his heart, I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. 
Ezehiel xviii. 

I will go to my Father, and say to him. Father, I have sinned against heaven : 
and against thee, and am no more wortliy to be called thy son. Luke xv. 

Dearly beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to ac- 
knowledge, and confess our manifold sins and wickedness, and that we should 
not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly 
Father, but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 81 

to the end, that we may obtain forgiveness of the same by his infinite goodness 
and mercy. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our 
sins before God, yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and 
meet together, to render thanks-for the great benefits that we have received at 
his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy word, and 
to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as 
the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to 
accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice, unto the throne of the 
heavenly grace, saying after me. 

[A general confession to bo made of the whole congregation after the minister, kneeling.] 
Almighty and most merciful Father : We have erred and strayed from thy 
ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our 
own hearts. We have oifended against thy holy laws. We have left undone 
those things which we ought to have done ; and we have done those things 
which we ought not to have done ; and there is no health in us. But thou, 
Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, God, which 
confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent ; according to thy 
promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, most 
merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, 
and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen. 

[The absolution, or remission of sins, to be pronounced by the minister alone.] 

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the 
death of a sinner, but rather, that he may turn from his wickedness, and live : 
and hath given power and commandment to his Ministers to declare and pro- 
nounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins : 
He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe 
his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance, 
and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him, which we do at this pres- 
ent, and that the rest of our life hereafter, may be pure, and holy, so that at the 
last we may come to his eternal joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

[The people shall answer :] 
Amen, 

[Then shall the minister begin the Lord's Prayer with a loud voice.] 

Our Father, whioh art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom 
come. Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily 
bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against 
us. And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil. Amen, 
[Then likewise he shall say,] 

Lord, open thou our lips. 

Answer. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise. 

Priest, God. make speed to save us. 



32 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Answer. Lord, make haste to help us. 

[Then all of them standing up, the Presbyter shall say or sing.] 
Priest. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 
jimen. 

Praise ye the Lord. 

Answer. The Lord's name be j^raised. 
[Then shall follow certain Psalms in order, as they are appointed in a table made for that purpose.] 
PSALM 05. — Venue Exultemus. 

come, let us sing unto the Lord : let us heartily rejoice in the strength of 
our salvation. 

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving : and show ourselves glad 
in him with Psalms. 

For the Lord is a great God : and a great King above all gods. 

In his hand are all the corners of the earth : and the strength of the hills is 
his also. 

The sea is his, and he made it : and his hands prepared the dry land. 

come, let us worship, and fall down : and kneel before the Lord our Maker. 

For he is the Lord our God : and we are the people of his pasture, and the 
sheep of his hand. 

To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts : as in the provoca- 
tion, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness : 

When your fathers tempted me ; proved me and saw my works. 

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said : It is a people 
that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways. 

Unto whom I sware in my wrath : that they should not enter into my rest. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost : 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. 
Amen. 

PSALM 96. — Cantate Domino. 

1. sing unto the Lord a new song ; sing unto the Lord, all the whole earth. 

2. Sing unto the Lord, and praise his name ; be telling of his salvation from 
day to day. 

3. Declare his honor unto the heathen, and his wonders unto all people. 

4. For the Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised ; he is more to be 
feared than all gods. 

5. As for the gods of the heathen, they are but idols ; but it is the Lord that 
made the heavens. 

6. Glory and worship are before him ; power and honor are in his sanctuary. 

7. Ascribe unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, ascribe unto the Lord 
worship and power. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 33 

8. Ascribe unto the Lord the honor due unto his name ; bring presents, and 
come into his courts. 

9. worship the Lord in the beauty of hohness ; let the whole earth stand 
in awe of him. 

10. Tell it out among the heathen, that the Lord is King ; and that it is he 
who hath made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved ; and how that 
he shall judge the people righteously. 

11. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ; let the sea make a 
noise, and all that therein is. 

12. Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it ; then shall all the trees of the 
wood rejoice before the Lord. 

13. For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth ; and with righteous- 
ness to judge the world, and the people with his triith. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 

PSALM 97. — DoMiNus Reonavit. 

1. The Lord is King, the earth may be glad thereof; yea, the multitude of 
the isles may be glad thereof. 

2. Clouds and darkness are round about him ; righteousness and judgment 
are the habitation of his seat. 

3. There shall go a fire before him, and burn up his enemies on every side, 

4. His lightnings gave shine unto the world; the earth saw it, and was afraid. 

5. The hills melted like wax at the ]jresence of the Lord ; at the presence of 
the Lord of the whole earth. 

6. The heavens have declared his righteousness, and all the people have seen 
his glory. 

7. Confounded be all they that worship carved images, and that delight in 
vain gods ; worship him all ye gods. 

8. Sion heard of it, and rejoiced ; and the daughters of Juda were glad, be- 
cause of thy j-udgraents, Lord. 

9. For thou, Lord, art higher than all that are in the earth ; thou art exalted 
far above all gods. 

10. ye that love the Lord, see that ye hate the thing which is evil ; the 
Lord preserveth the souls of his saints ; he shall deliver them from the hands 
of the ungodly, 

11. There is sprung up a light for the righteous, and joyful gladness for such 
as are true-hearted, 

12. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks for a remembrance 
of his holiness. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to tlie Holy Ghost ; 



3-1 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 

Amen. 

[Then shall be read two lessons distinctly, with a loud voice, that the people may hear. The 
first of the OUl Testament; the second of the New, — like as they be appointed in the Kalendar. 
And before every lesson the Minister shall say thus: The first, second, third, or fourth chapter of 
Genesis, or Exodus. Matthew, Mark, or other like, as is appointed in the Kalendar. And in the 
end of every chapter, he shall say, Here endeth such a chapter of such a Book.] 
THE FIRST LESSON IS DANIEL I. 

[Then shall be said] 

Te Dcum Laudamus. 

We praise thee, God ; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. 

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. 

To thee all Angels cry aloud ; the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. 

To thee, Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry. 

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. 

Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory. 

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee. 

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee. 

The noble array of Martyrs praise thee. 

The holy Church throughout all the world, doth acknowledge thee, 

The Father, of an infinite Majesty ; 

Thine adorable, true, and only Son ; 

Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. 

Thou art the King of Glory, Christ. 

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. 

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's 
womb. 

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the king- 
dom of heaven to all believers. 

Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father. 

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge. 

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with 
thy precious blood. 

Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting. 

Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage. 

Govern them, and lift them up forever. 

Day by day we magnify thee ; 

And we worship thy Name ever, world without end. 

Vouchsafe, Lord, to keep us this day without sin. 

Lord have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. 

Lord, let thy mercy be upon us, as our trust is in thee. 

Lordjiu thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 35 

THE SECOND LESSON IS ACTS XVII. 
[After the second lesson shall be used and said as followeth :] 
PSALM C. — JoBiLAiE Deo. 
be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands ; serve the Lord with gladness, and come 
before his presence with a song. 

Be ye sure that the Lord he is God, it is he that hath made us, and not we 
ourselves ; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 

go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with 
praise ; be thankful unto him, and speak good of his name. 

For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting ; and his truth euduretli 
from generation to generation. 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; 

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. 
Amen. 

[Then shall be said the Creed, by the Minister and the jjeople, standing.] 

1 believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth : And in 
Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord ; Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, 
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and 
buried ; He descended into Hell ; the third da}^ he rose again from the dead ; 
He ascended into Heaven ; and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Al- 
mighty ; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. 

I believe in the Holy Ghost ; The Holy Catholic Church ; The communion of 
Saints ; The forgiveness of sins ; The resurrection of the body, and the life 
everlasting. Amen. 
[And after that these, Prayers ft)llowing, all devoutly kneeling ; the Minister first pronouncing,] 

The Lord be with you. 

Ans. And with thy spirit. 

Min. Let us pray. 

Lord have mercy upon us. 

Christ have mercy upon us. 

Lord have mercy upon us. 

Our Father who art in Heaven ; Hallowed be thj- Name, Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy Will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And 
lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil. Amen. 

Lord, show thy mercy upon us. 

Ans. And grant us thy salvation. 

Lord, save thy people. 

Ans. And bless thine inheritance. 

Give peace in our time, Lord. 

Ans. Because there is none other that Sghtetb for us, but only thou, God. 

God, make clean our hearts within us ; 



36 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Ans. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us. 

[Then shall follow the first Collect for the day.] 
God, who declarest thy Ahuighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and 
pity, give unto us abundantly thy grace, that we, running to thy promises, may 
be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
[The Second Collect for Peace.] 

God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of 
whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom ; defend us, 
thy humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies ; that we, surely trusting in 
thy defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

[The Third Collect for Grace.] 

Lord, our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely 
brought us to the beginning of this day ; defend us in the same with thy mighty 
power, and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of 
danger ; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always 
that is righteous in thy sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
[A Prayer for the President of the United States, and all in Civil Authority.] 

Lord, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, 
who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth ; most heartily we 
beseech thee, with thy favor to behold and bless thy servant, The Fresident of 
the United States, and all others in authority ; and so replenish them with the 
grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may. always incline to thy will, and walk in 
thy way: Endue them plenteously with heavenly gifts; grant them in health and 
prosperity long to live; and finally, after this life, to attain everlasting joy and 
felicity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

[A Prayer in time of War.] 

Almighty God, King of all kings, and Governor of all things, whose power 
no creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and 
to be merciful to those who truly repent; Save and deliver us, we humbly be^ 
seech thee, from the hands of our enemies : abate their pride, assuage their 
malice, and confound their devices, that we, being armed with thy defense, may 
be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify thee, who art the only giver of 
all victory, through the merits of thy only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 
[A Prayer of St. Chrysostom.] 

Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make 
our common supplications unto thee ; and dost promise that when two or three 
are gathered together in thy Name, thou wilt grant their requests ; Fulfil now, 
Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 61 

for them ; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world 
to come life everlasting. Amen. 

2 COR. XIII. 
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellow- 
ship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen. 

[Then shall be sung PSALM CXXXIX. vers. 7— 10, as followeth :] 

7. Yea, let me take the morning wings, and let me go and dwell 
E'en in the very utmost parts, where flowing seas do swell : 

8. Yet certainly there also shall thy hand me lead and guide, 
And thy right hand shall hold me fast, and make me to abide. 

9. Or if I say the darkness shall shroud me quite from thy sight, 
E'en then the night that is most dark about me shall be light. 

10. The darkness hideth not from thee, but night doth shine as day ; 

To thee darkness and the light are both alike alway. 

This " Order" was distributed among the persons near the 
place where the worship was offered, in which many persons in- 
terested in this service, united in the responsive portions. The 
singing of the metrical Psalm was aided by the soft and sweet 
music of the Band. 

When these impressive services were concluded, the Hon. 
William Willis, of Portland, President of the Historical Socie- 
ty, made the following address : 

HISTORICAL STATEMENT BY THE HON. WILLIAM WILLIS. 

The Maine Historical Society accepts, with great satisfaction, 
the honorable position assigned to it in the interesting ceremo- 
nies of this day. It is the agreeable duty of the society to 
explore and elucidate the sources of our history, and to trace 
its progress from the feeble steps of its earliest life, to the 
gigantic strides of the present day. We therefore welcome 
every occasion which gives fresh impulse to historical investi- 
gation, or awakens new interest in the antiquities of our 
country. 

The present is one of those auspicious occasions ; and we 
congratulate our fellow-citizens of this early discovered and 



38 ' MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

renowned river, — this ancient Sagadahoc, — on the happy 
suggestion, to elevate into general notice, by a signal demon- 
stration, one of the important events in the early annals of 
our State. 

The English people, with their accustomed caution, were 
slow in improving the great advantage which their first discov- 
ery of the American continent, hj Cabot, gave them. It was 
near a himdred years, before they made any attempt to plant 
a colony on any part of America. They took no interest in 
colonization, and little in commercial voyages for many years. 
They permitted the Spanish, the Portugese, and the French to 
engross maritime enterprises. 

In 1524, twenty-seven years after Cal)ot's discovery, Ver- 
razani, under the French, ranged the whole coast from Florida 
to Newfoundland. In 1534, James Cartier, with a commission 
from Francis I., coasted along the shores of the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, and took possession of them in the name of France ; 
and the next year, he sailed up the St. Lawrence, and laid the 
foundation of a colony at Hochelaga, now Montreal. 

The interest of these three commercial nations was kept up 
by the zeal with which they puisued their fishbig- voyages on 
the American coast. This branch of trade was of more con- 
sequence to Europe than any other. As early as 1506, vessels 
visited the coast from Biscay, Brittany, and Normandy, and 
within twenty years from the first voyage of Cabot, 1497, fifty 
vessels, from Spain, Portugal, and Fi-ance, were engaged in 
the fisheries about Newfoundland. 

It was not until 1548, that the English government passed 
their first act for the encouragement of the fisheries, after 
which they became active competitors in this profitable occu- 
pation. Before the close of that century, when the English 
had fifty vessels on the banks, Portugal had an equal number, 
Spain double, and France three times as many. These large 
enterprises led the English people io an increasing interest in 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 39 

American adventure, and to a familiarity of tlie coast, wliich 
induced tliem to take measures for the enlargement and pro- 
tection of their commerce in those regions. With this view, 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in 1578, obtained a charter for " places 
not possessed by any Christian Prince," ^ and in 1583, he fitted 
out an expedition of four vessels and two hundred and fifty 
men, with which he entered the harbor of St. John, in New- 
foundland, erected the standard of England, and took posses- 
sion of the country under the English Crown. This was the 
first actual possession taken by that nation this side of the 
Atlantic. Ealeigh followed the next year with a large expedi- 
tion to the coast of North Carolina. 

But it was not until the beginning of the 17th century, that 
serious attention was turned to the shores of New England. 
Previous to that time, the English had been beguiled by the 
deceitful phantom of a northwest passage, and nearly all the 
voyages of the 16th century were made in that fruitless search. 
The scales have yet hardly fallen from their eyes. It was in 
pursuit of this open passage, that Cabot, to his great disap- 
pointment, lighted upon this continent. He says in a despond- 
ing tone, — "I began to sail toward the northwest, not thinking 
to find any other land than Cathay, and from thence to turn 
toward India. But after certain days, I found the land run 
toward the North, which to me was a great displeasure." The 
voyages of Frobisher, (1576), Davis, (1585), Gilbert and 
others, were all made in the same unsuccessful pursuit. Even 
Weymouth, whose voyage gave an immense impulse to English 
colonization, was seeking the same illusive vision, when, as 
Gorges says, " falling short of his course, he happened into a 
river on the coast of America, called Pemaquid." 

But the French had the start of the English on the shores 

1 Gilbert's grant was dated June 23, 1579, according to Prince, but the copy 
in Hazard bears date June 11, in the twentieth year of Elizabeth. It was '• for 
places not possessed by any Christian Prince." 



40 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of Maine as well as the St. Lawrence ; for De Mont, the year 
before Weymouth made his exploration, planted a colony, in 
the Slimmer of 1604, upon an island in the St. Croix, now a 
part of Maine, and constructed a fort, extensive buildings, and 
made all arrangements for a permanent settlement. But the 
location, like most of the early occupations, Avas unfortunate ; 
the island Avas small, water difficult to be obtained, and no 
opportunity for adequate cultivation of soil. The next sum- 
mer it was abandoned ; and it so happened, that while Wey- 
mouth was making his examination between the Penobscot and 
Kennebec, De Mont was ranging the coast from St. Croix to 
Cape Cod, touching in at various points for a more favorable 
place of settlement, — all lying within his patent from Henry 
IV., granted November 8, 1603. He looked into the Penob- 
scot, he touched at Sagadahoc, he spent some time in Casco 
Bay and Winter Harbor, and was delighted with the " Isle of 
Bacchus," as he called Wood Island which lies at the mouth of 
Saco River. 

The first really sensible movement on the part of the Eng- 
lish towards colonization of any part of New England, was the 
voyage of Gosnold in 1602. He was wise enough to make a 
direct westerly course, instead of passing through the southern 
latitudes as was customary ; his voyage was thus very much 
shortened ; he made the land about Cape Elizabeth ; cruised 
along the coast, landed at York, had a conference there with 
the Indians, and proceeded to Vineyard Sound ; landed on 
one of the beautiful islands there, built a store-house, and made 
preparations to establish a colony. But when the vessel was 
about to depart with their friends, and put a wide ocean be- 
tween them and their dear native land and civilized life, the 
courage of these few colonists failed them ; they hastily aban- 
doned their design, and returned home with their companions. 

The next year, 1603, Martin Prinn, at the suggestion of 
Richard Hakluyt, the unwearied friend and patron of coloni- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION'. 41 

zation, made a successful trading voyage iu two small vessels 
fitted out by some merchants of Bristol. 

But the voyage of Weymouth, 1605, was so favorable, both 
in the flattering accounts which the adventurers gave of the 
country, — it was in the beautiful month of June they saw it, — 
and in the information as to the resources, furnished by the 
Indians, who were carried to England, that a fresh impulse 
was given to western adventure. It added a new patron and 
persevering fi-iend, in Sir Ferdinando Gorges, then Governor 
of Plymouth, to whom three of the Indians were committed ; 
who gave him such information in regard to the coast, the riv- 
ers, and other advantages which their country afforded, that 
he became deeply interested in making further discoveries, 
with a view to occupy, and improve these various sources of 
wealth. 

For, after all, the profit was the grand stimulant, as Gorges 
hunself frankly admits. He says, " I had no reason greatly 
to despair of means, when God should be pleased, by our ordi- 
nary frequenting that country, to make it appear that it would 
both profit and content, to as many as aimed thereat, these 
being truly the motives that all men labor, howsoever other- 
wise adjoined, with fair colors and goodly shadows." 

In speaking of the "falling short" of Weymouth to find the 
X, W. Passage, and landing instead on the coast of Maine, 
Gorges says, " This accident must be acknowledged the means, 
under God, of putting on foot and giving life to aU our plan- 
tations." 

The first fruit of tliis new excitement was to secure the 
sanction of Government ; and Sir John Popham, aided by 
Hakluyt, who not only promoted but recorded American en- 
terprises, prevailed on several nobles and gentlemen to apply 
to the King for a charter of further privileges and immunities 
for the Adventurers. This was happily obtained and the grant 
which gave concerteil, and more vigorous effort, to colonization 

4 



42 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

and trade, bears date April 10, 1606, by wliicli, the whole 
country lying between North latitude 34,° which is that of Cape 
Fear, N, C, and 45,° which is that of Passamaquoddy bay, 
was conceded to eight persons, who were warmly engaged in 
Western adventure ; four of them, viz : Sir Thos. Gates, Sir 
George Somers, Hakluyt and Wingfield, had the Southern 
portion, called Southern Virginia, assigned to them, and the 
other four, viz : Thomas Hanham, Raleigh Gilbert, Wm. 
Parker, and Geo. Popham, the Northern portion, called North- 
ern Virginia. These persons, except Hakluyt, who was a 
Prebendary in the church, personally engaged in the adventures 
which followed — Popham and Gilbert leading the Northern 
colony, and Gates, Somers, and Wingfield, the Southern. 
The King recites in the charter the object of the petitioners to 
be, " That wee would vouchsafe unto them our license to make 
habitation, plantation and deduce a colony of sundry of our 
people into that part of Virginia, and other parts of America." 

A council of fifty-two persons was appointed by the charter 
to manage all its affairs, at the head of which was placed the 
Earl of Southampton, and among them the Earls of Pembroke, 
Exeter and Lincoln, and Sir Francis Bacon. It is a striking 
fact, that the charter does not contain the names of Chief Jus- 
tice Popham, or Sir Ferdinando Gorges, although Popham, 
certainly, was a chief instrument in procuring it. 

The Southern colony was the first to move, and on the 20th 
December, 1606, they dispatched three ships, one of 100 tons, 
one of 40, and one of 10, with their colonists, who arrived and 
laid the foundation of Jamestown, May 31st, 1607, the very day 
that the 2d, or Northern colony, sailed from Plymouth, to 
occupy the Sagadahoc. The Jamestown became a permanent 
colony, and was the first of that character planted on American 
soil. North of Florida. 

But Gorges and Popham, did not wait the movements of the 
adventurers under the charter. The corporation was slow to 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 43 

move, they were iinwilling to embark their funds in so preca- 
rious a speculation. Popham and Gorges woukl not wait upon 
their doubts, so in August, 1606, they fitted out a vessel at 
their own expense, witli all needed supplies and provisions, 
accompanied by two of the natives taken over by Weymouth. 
They put this expedition under command of Capt. Henry 
Challong, with orders to pursue a direct Westerly course, as 
Gosnold had done in 1602. But instead of this, he put away 
South, and was captured by the Spaniards, to the great loss of 
the adventurers and the interruption of their plans ; for they 
had instructed Challong to leave as many men as he could 
spare to occupy the country. It was not until the return of 
Prinn, who was sent after Challong with fresh supplies, and 
who made intelligent and encouraging reports, that the corpor- 
ation was roused to action. 

All the voyages hitherto made, were undertaken by individ- 
uals on private account, and had been pursued with great 
loss. Gorges in a letter to Challong, after his capture, says, 
" You knowe that the journey hath bene noe small charge to 
us that first sent to the coast, and had for our returne but the 
five salvadges." It was more than a year after the grant, that 
the Northern company were ready to commence their voyage ; 
on the 31st of May, 1607, 0. &., sailed out of old Plymouth 
harbor, the " Gift of God," and the " Mary and John," with 
one hundred landmen to plant the first English colony that 
ever visited the coast of Mainc.^ They were commanded by 
two of the patentees, the old and experienced George Popham 
and Raleigh Gilbert, as noble and gallant commanders as 
ever walked a quarter deck and worthy the command of an 
expedition of so grand an import. Gilbert was a son of Sir 
Humphrey. 

These frail barks were freighted with the best hopes and 
anxious doubts of wise and earnest and noble men at home, 

1 Strachey says " 120 men for planters." Prince says " 100 landmen." 



44 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

who beheld through the mist of coming time, a new world of 
civilization and Christianity, arising out of the dark forests and 
rock bound shores of this wild and desolate continent. Here, 
on this spot, that brave and hardy crew planted the banner of 
St. George, and gave to Old England, lawful and actual pos- 
session of a Neiv England, which for one hundred and fifty 
years was the fairest jewel of her crown. And here lie the 
bones of the first President, Popham, the elder brother of the 
learned Chief Justice of England, who died about the same 
time. 

But, Sir, the enterprise failed ; death and the stars seemed 
against it, and there were " no more speeches," by the Northern 
company, says Gorges, "of settling any other plantation in those 
parts for a long time after." They were in search of gain, and 
found it not, in peopling a rude continejit. It was essentially 
a commercial company ; the principle that moved it was ad- 
verse to generous action ; it required another sentiment, the 
religious element, to give patient endurance, indomitable reso- 
lution and final success, as was signally vindicated in the 
renowned colony of the Pilgrims. The Northern company 
made no other attempt at colonization, until they obtained their 
charter of 1620. We must not claim too much for this un- 
successful attempt to people a continent, but regard it as one 
of the steps in the grand march of colonization. 

But I leave the details of these great movements to those who 
come after me, while I touch briefly on one or two other topics. 

The ancient and perpetual rival of England, on the other 
side of the channel, did not willingly yield a prize of so much 
worth to "perfidious Albion." France interposed her claim to 
the whole continent from Hudson river to the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. She did not relinquish it until she was gradually driven 
from the soil by superior force, and conceded the territory to 
her rival by the peace of Paris, in 1763. 

Her title was founded 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. -45 

1st. On the voyage of Verrazani, 1524. 

2d. On the discovery and occupation of Canada, by James 
Cartier, 1535, and following years. 

3d. The grant of Henry lY., 1603, to De Mont. 

4th. The voyages and occupation of the country under 
Champlain and De Mont, 1603-4. 

The English title is defended on the following grounds : 

1st. The discovery by Cabot, 1497. 

2d. The possession of Newfoundland by Gilbert, 1583. 

3d. The voyages and landing by Gosnold, 1602 ; Prinn, 
1603 ; Weymouth, 1605 ; and Popliam, 1607. 

4th. The Charter of 1606. 

The English never denied the French title to Canada, but 
claimed to restrict it to what they first discovered and actually 
occupied. The French never had any possession of the coast, 
west of the Kennebec. 

It is evident that these grants or concessions, as the French 
called them, could convey only a barren title, unless there was 
actual possession; or a well founded right to possession. 

The Privy Council of England, in 1666, decided, in a ques- 
tion that arose under the Duke of York's grantof New York 
and New Jersey, That " by the law of nations if any people 
make discovery of any country of barbarians, the prince of that 
people who make the discovery, hath the right of soil and gov- 
ernment of that place ; and no people can plant there without 
the consent of the prince, or the persons to whom his right is 
conveyed." 

This giving away continents by sovereigns, was ridiculed by 
Francis I., of France, when the Spaniards set up the right to 
them of the new world, by the Pope ; he said, he " would fain 
like to see the clause in Adam's will which made the continent 
their inheritance." 

These acts were something like the brilliant offer of the arch 
rebel, we read of, who offered " all the kingdoms of tlie earth" 



46 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

as a bribe to submission to him, when the rascal had not a foot 
of land to give. 

The truth is, and that was the practical result, he who could 
seize and hold, had the most effectual title, notwithstanding 
royal seals and broad parchment deeds. 

I desire to call your attention. Sir, to one fact more, — and 
that is, the frail vessels in which the early adventurers to 
America crossed our stormy seas, and advanced to high north- 
ern latitudes. Not one of them that we have any account of, 
went up to 200 tons, and by far the largest number were under 
100 tons. They were such vessels as your hardy fishermen 
would scarcely venture in to the Grand Banks. 

The largest ship in which Columbus made his first voyage 
did not much exceed 100 tons, the other two were light barks 
of 30 or 40 tons, and not decked, except at the bow and stern. 
The largest of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's fleet of four vessels in 
which ho sailed to Newfoundland in 1533, was but 120 tons, 
two others were 40 tons, and the fourth, the Squirrel, but 10 
tons. It was in this little pinnace of ten tons, that this most 
brave and noble adventurer went down, in a gale of wind, as 
he was returning home from his great voyage in 1584, refusing 
to take the large vessel, saying that he was as near Heaven on 
the sea as on the land. And thus perished at the early age of 
forty-five, one of the most experienced and worthy of the early 
discoverers. 

Prinn's two vessels fitted out in 1603 by Hakluyt and the 
Bristol merchants, were but 50 and 26 tons. The Caravel of 
Gomez, equipped by the Emperor Charles V., in 1525, for 
Northern adventure, was but 60 tons. .. Challong's ship, sent 
out in 1606, by Popliam and Gorges, -was but 55 tons, — and, 
lastly, the two little barks, which we sqI in imagination moor- 
ed in yonder channel, were 60 and 40p. tons. These vessels, 
gentlemen, fitted out by nobles and gentlemen of highest rank, 
to found a colon v, — to lav the foundations of a new civilization 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 47 

in the wilderness, laden with all the supplies supposed to be 
needeel for these great purposes, and hearing one hundred and 
twenty souls, — were not so large as the common coasters and 
fishing vessels which daily pass the mouth of this river ! 

And then the fort. Sir, built by these colonists, a mere 
stockade to repel Indian aggression, mounted by demi culver- 
ins of nine pounds, or sakers of six pounds, twelve in all.^ 

Compare these slight vessels with the noble ships of 1000 
and 1500 tons, now built upon this river, larger than the larg- 
est commercial vessels which floated before the present cen- 
tury, and bearing burdens to all parts of the world ! 

And compare that humble stockade of earth and stakes, with 
the magnificent fortress which is now rising on the ancient 
site ! 

These glimpses at the past and present, mark the progress 
of our country from its feeble footsteps, two centuries and a 
half ago, when not a white man was to be found on its whole 
extensive line of coast, to the grandeur, the wealth, the re- 
sources, the dignity of the present hour. Nothing but itself, 
in history, is its parallel. 

Gorges, in 1640, when looking upon his work in this coun- 
try, triumphantly exclaimed, — " I have not sped so ill ; I thank 
God for it ; but I have a house and home there, and some 
necessary means of profit by my saw mills, and corn mills, 
Ijesides some annual receipts, to lay the foundation of greater 
matters." 

These greater matters have come ! Since the first coloniza- 
tion, the Anglo Saxon race has advanced with a firm, and steady 
step, occupying, cultivating, civilizing, until they have made 

1 Strachey says, " They full}' finished the fort, trencht and fortefyed yt with 
12 pieces of ordnance, and built 50 houses therein, besides a church and a store 
house ; and the carpenters framed a pretty Pinnace of about some 30 tonne, 
which they called the Virgmia ; the chiefe shipwright being one Digby of Lon- 
don." 3 Me. Hist. Col., 308. 



48 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

the craggy shores and tangled forests, the fit abode of a high 
civilization, the seat of commerce and the arts, and given to 
the ages a model of civil and religious liberty, dear to the lov- 
ers of freedom everywhere, and which the world will not let 
die. 

Peace has its victories, and none more worthy of commemo- ' 
ration than those which ushered in the glorious mornmg of our 
American history and civilization. 

We cannot but remember, that the ruin of empires, and the 
reconstruction of society, are the ever recurring problems of 
the past. And though clouds and shadows now hang around 
our horizon, and we are having our bitter experiences, we trust 
the day is not distant, when the full constellation of our Union 
shall shine forth again on the meridian sky, in its original 
effulgence ; no pleiad lost ; and our re-United States purified 
and strengthened by a fierce and bloody ordeal, shall again 
pursue its golden cycle — and the glorious old banner which 
shall wave on the ramparts of this fortress be the harbinger of 
solid peace, perpetual union and unclouded prosperity. 

On the completion of this statement, the " Memorial -Stone," 
of granite, from tlie Biddeford quarries, weighing about six 
tons, showing a front of six feet by four, and bearing the In- 
scription hereafter to be mentioned, — which had been placed 
under the platform, was rolled forward into view. The Stand- 
ing Committee of the Historical Society then came forward, 
and through their acting Chairman, the Rev. Leonard Woods, 
D. D.., President of Bowdoin College, solicited the consent of 
the State and General Governments, in the following words : 

ADDEESS OF THE REV. PRESIDENT WOODS. 

The Standing Committee of the Historical Society accepts 
the honorable service assigned to it, of causing a stone to be 
placed in the wall of this fort, in memory of the colony which 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 49 

was established here two hundred and fifty-five years ago. 
This earlier colony presents somD claims for a grateful com- 
memoration, as well as those more noted colonies which followed 
in its train, whether we regard its simple priority in the same 
great enterprise, or the high rank and character of its leaders, 
or the enlarged views of commercial policy, or the heroic spirit 
of adventure, or the purer motives of religion, by which they 
were animated. It has so happened, however, that these claims 
have been hitherto disregarded. While yearly honors have 
been rendered, and costly monuments have been erected to 
the later colonists of New England, not a stone has hitherto 
marked the spot where these earlier colonists planted them- 
selves, and scarcely a word has been uttered in their praise. 
All honor to those who came over in the Mayflower and Ar- 
bella ; but let justice also be done to those who came over years 
before them in the " Mary and John," — that noble company of 
one hundred and twenty colonists, who, leaving their English 
homes under the auspices of the first Plymouth Company, 
under the charter of 1606, under the more immediate direction 
of George Popham, Raleigh Gilbert, and Richard Seymour, 
after braving the perils of the ocean, established themselves 
here, at the mouth of the Sagadahoc, on the 19th day of 
August, 1607, for the better discovery of the New World, for 
the enlargement of the British empire and commerce, and for 
the spread of the true faith. Let us not leave any longer un- 
done the duties we owe to those who have deserved so well of 
their fellow-men ; and to-day, after so long a time, let us per- 
form the first act of tardy justice, in causing this stone, with 
its modest record, to be erected to their memory. 

The commemorative act in which we are employed, performed 
as it is, in the name of the good people of this Commonwealth, 
at the same time reflects upon them no inconsiderable benefit, 
inasmuch as it vindicates for this State its true historic position, 
and affords it a new warrant for inscribing the proud motto of 



50 MEMOKIAL VOLUME. 

" DIEIGO " upon its standard, and assigns to it a certain 
leadership in the course of events by which the English race 
' was planted in this portion of the American continent, and the 
English title to it was asserted. It is therefore with great 
pleasure that we see the Government of the State represented 
on this occasion, and it is with great confidence that we solicit 
its favorable countenance on this transaction. 

Hon. Abner Coburn, of Bloomfield, replied as follows : 

ADDRESS OF HON. ABNER COBURN. 

On behalf of His Excellency, Gov. Washburn, I appear here 
to-day, charged with" the duty of giving the assent of the State 
to the placing of this memorial stone in the walls of this fort, 
which I now give by the direction of the Governor. 

It is to me, as to all of this vast assembly, a matter of sincere 
regret, that our honored Chief Magistrate is detained at the 
Capitol, to-day, in the discharge of imperative public duties. 
His eloquent voice would have given an interest to this occa- 
sion which I am unable to impart to it. I rejoice, however, at 
the occasion, and in the opportunity of participating in these 
interesting services, the commencement only, as I trust, of a 
series of annual celebrations of the first founding of our race 
on these shores. 

On the conclusion of Mr. Coburn's speech. President "Woods, 
addressing Capt. T. L. Casey, of the U. S. Engineer Corps, the 
officer in charge, said : 

REV. PRESIDENT WOODS TO CAPTAIN CASEY. 

The monumental stone, which is now before us, has been 
provided under the direction of the Historical Society, with the 
design of having it placed in the wall of the new Fort now 
erecting by the Government of the United States, near the site 
of the old Fort, Saint George, erected by these early colonists. 
By the consent of the Federal Government, the name of Popham 
has already been given to the new Fort. Its consent is now 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 51 

respectfully asked, to place in the wall of the Fort this stone, 
in memory of this gallant leader and his colony. 

Captain Casey replied as follows : 

CAPTAIN T. L. Casey's eemarks. 

Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the Committee of the His- 
torical Society : In the absence of Gen. Totten, Chief of the 
Bureau of Engineers, it is my duty as the officer in charge, to 
perform the duty of giving, in this public manner, the assent 
of the President of the United States to the insertion in the 
walls of this Fort, and in its appropriate place,* of this memorial 
stone. Although holding a commission in the Engineer Corps 
under Gen. Totten, Chief of the Engineer Bureau, I am no less 
obedient to the President of the United States, who administers 
the Government by the aid of such departments and subordi- 
nates as by the laws are provided. The assent, therefore, 
which I this day give, is the assent of the President acting 
through the Secretary of War. 

On the suggestion of the plan of placing this memorial stone 
in this Fort, I made known the fact, by letter, to Gen. Totten. 
On his arrival in Portland he took action thereon. 

The following correspondence explains the official action of 
the Government in the matter : 

Portland, August 13th, 1862. 

Sir : — I have the honor to place in your hands a printed circular, setting 
forth certain historical facts connected with the early history of New England, 
in ^yhich it is suggested that a Memorial Stone, with a suitable inscription, 
should be placed in the walls of Fort Popham, now in process of construction, 
commemorating the facts therein set forth, — provided the approval and consent 
of the Government of the United States thereto can be obtained. 

I am instructed by the Executive Committee in charge of these matters, 
most respectfully to ask permission to carry out the plan proposed, and to fur- 
ther request for this purpose, to occupy the grounds of Fort Popham on 
Friday, the 29th day of August, 1862, the 255th anniversary of the foundation 
of the first English Colony on the shores of New England ; and such rules and 



52 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

regulations as may be thought proper by the Government of the United States, 
or the War Department. 

In behalf of said Committee, 
I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

Charles J. Oilman, of Brunswick, Maine. 

To Brig. Gen. Jos. G. Totten, Chief of Engineers of U. S. Army. 



Portland, Me., August 13th, 1862. 

Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of TFar, IFashington. 

Sir : — I have the^onor to submit herewith the copy of a letter just received 
from the Hon. Charles J. Gihnan, writing on behalf of the Executive Committee 
of the Historical Society of this State, in which the approval of the General 
Government is asked, to the insertion in the walls of the Fort now in course of 
construction at the mouth of the Kennebec river, of a stone with an inscription 
commemorating certain historical facts connected with the early history of the 
State ; which facts, summarily given in a printed paper, are also herewith sub- 
mitted. 

Mr. Oilman also requests permission for the occupation of the grounds of this 
Fort on the 29th day of August, in a public celebration of the event of the in- 
sertion of the " MemoriaK Stone." 

These propositions seem to me of a nature deserving the sanction of the 
Government, and as no injury to the works, or material delay in their progress 
are at all likely to ensue, I respectfully urge them upon your approval. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

(Signed) Jos.'',ph G. Totten, 

Brevet Brig, General and Colonel Engineers. 



Portland, August 13th, 1862. 
Gen. Jos, G. Totten, Chief Engineer, 

Submits and recommends to the approval of the Hon. Secretary of War, ap- 
plication of Chas. J. Oilman, in behalf of the Executive Committee of the Histor- 
ical Society of Maine, for permission to place a monumental stone in the walls 
of the Fort erecting at the mouth of the Kennebec river — and to occupy the 
grounds of the Fort on the 29th day of August, 1862, in a public celebration of 
the event. 

Approved. 

By order of the Secretary of War, 

(Signed) P. H. Watson, Assl. Secretary of War. 

August 19th, 1862. 



POPHAIM CELEBRATION. 



PRESIDENT WOODS THEN SAID : 



Under these high auspices, then, and in the presence of these 
honored guests who have come from a distance to participate 
in this celebration, and of this vast concourse of our fellow 
citizens, we will now proceed to cause this monumental stone 
to be erected. And to this end, and in order that all things 
may be rightly performed, we are happy that we are able to 
avail ourselves of the ancient rites of the Order of Free Masons, 
which are kindly proifered to us on this occasion. To the 
hands of this respected Fraternity, and to their mystic craft, 
the work is now committed. 

MASONIC CEREMONIES. 

At the completion of this portion of the assigned duties, the 
ceremonies proceeded under the charge of the Grand Lodge of 
Maine, made up as follows : 



M. W. JosiAH H. Deummond, 




Grand 3Iaster. 


Timothy J. Murray, 


as 


. Deputy Grand Masto 


Hesry C. Lovell, 


as 


. Senior Grand Warden. 


Edward P. Weston, 


as 


. Junior Grand Warden. 


Thomas S. Foster, . 


as 


Grand Treasurer. 


Samuel Kyle, . 


, as 


. Grand Secretary. 


Marquis F. King, 




Grand Marshal, 


Cyril Pearl, 




. Grand Chaplain. 


Charles Cobb, . 


as 


. Principal Architect. 


Augustus Bailey, 
c. cushing, 
0. B. Rice, 




S Bearers of vessels of coi 
V tcinc, and oil. 


Charles Sampson, , 


SPl 


Grand Tyler. 
"V'iVpq witli +lip fnlln'win 



dress by the Grand Master : 



Grand Master. Eight Worsliipful Senioi- Grand Warden : The Grand Lodge 
of Maine, having been invited by the proper autliorities to lay, in due and an- 
cient Masonic form, this Meraorial Stone, in this Fort here to be erected for our 



54 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

defense against those who would assail us, and that invitation having been ac- 
cepted, I now order the Grand Lodge to assist me in the performance of this 
work. This, my will and pleasure, you will proclaim to the Junior Grand War- 
den, and he, to the brethren and others present, that all, having due notice 
thereof, may govern themselves accordingly. 

Senior Grand Warden. Right Worshipful Junior Grand Warden : It is the 
order of the Most Worshipful Grand Master, of the Grand Lodge of Maine, 
that this Memorial Stone be now laid with Masonic honors. This, his will and 
pleasure, you will proclaim to all present, that the occasion may be observed 
with due order and solemnity. 

Junior Grand Warden. Brethren, and all who are present, will take no- 
tice that the Most Worshipful Grand Master will now deposit this Memorial 
Stone in Masonic form. • You will observe the order and the decorum becoming 
the solemn ceremonies in which we are about to engage. 

INVOCATION BY THE GRAND CHAPLAIN, REV, CYRIL PEARL. 
MUSIC. 

The Principal Architect then presented the working tools to 
the Grand Master, by whose direction the Grand Marshal dis- 
tributed them to the Deputy Grand Master and Senior and 
Junior Grand Wardens. 

During solemn music, the Square, Level, and Plumb were 
applied to the Stone by the proper officers. 

Grand Master. Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master, What is the proper 
Jewel of your office 1 

Deputy Grand Master. The Square. 

Grand Master. Have you applied the Square to those parts of the Stone 
that should be square 1 

Deputy Grand Master. I have. Most Worshipful Grand Master, and the 
Craftsmen have done their duty. 

Grand Master. Right Worshipful Senior Grand Warden, What is the prop- 
er Jewel of your office 1 

Senior Grand Warden. The Level. 

Grand Master. Have you applied the Level to the Stone 1 

Senior Grand Warden. I have, Most Worshipful Grand Master, and the 
Craftsmen have done their duty. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 55 

Grand Master. Right Worshipful Junior Grand AVarden, What is the prop- 
er Jewel of your office 1 

Junior Grand Warden. The Plumb. 

Grand Master. Have you applied the Plumb to the several edges of the 

Stone 1 

Junior Grand Warden. I have, most Worshipful Grand Master, and the 
Craftsmen have done their duty. 

Grand Master. Having full confidence in your skill in tl^ Royal Art, it 
remains with me now to finish the work. 

The Grand Master then gave three knocks upon the Stone, 
and said : 

" I find this Memorial Stone well' formed, true, and trusty ; and may this 
undertaking be conducted and completed by the Craftsmen according to the 
grand plan, in Peace, Love, and Harmony." 

The Deputy Grand Master then received from the Grand 
Marslial the golden vessel, containing corn, and spread the 
corn upon the Stone, saying : 

" May the health of the workmen employed in this undertaking be preserved 
to them, and may the Supreme Grand Arcliitect bless and prosper their labors." 

The Grand Marshal then took the vessel of wine and j^re- 
sented it to the Senior Grand Warden, who poured it upon the 
Stone, saying : 

" May plenty be showered down upon the people of this nation, and may the 
blessing of the Bounteous Giver of all things attend all their laudable under- 
takings." 

The Grand Marshal presented the vessel of oil to the Junior 
Grand Warden, who poured it upon the Stone, saying : 

"May the Supreme Ruler of the world soon restore Peace to this people, and 
vouchsafe to them the enjoyment of every blessing." 

Grand Master. " May corn, wine, and oil, and all the necessaries of life 
abound among men throughout the world ; and may the blessings of Almighty 
God be upon this undertaking, and may the structure here to be erected, stand 
to the latest ages as a defense to the people, and to commemorate the names 
of those who first planted upon these shores the seeds of religious liberty and 
civil freedom." 



56 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The Grand Master then returned the working tools to the 

Principal Architect, saying : 

" To you, as the representative of the architect of this work, are confided 
tlie implements of operative masonry, with the fullest confidence that by his 
skill and labor a fabric will arise, wliich will be, at the same time an impregna- 
ble defense to these shores, and a memorial of tliose who first upon this spot 
displayed the Great Light in Masonry, and paid their adorations to the Supreme 
Architect of the Universe. Far distant be the day when there shall be a neces- 
sity to use this structure for the purposes for which it is designed." 

FLOURISH OF MUSIC. 
BENEDICTION. 

The Grand Master then announced to Dr. Woods, acting 
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Maine Histori- 
cal Society, that the Memorial Stone was laid in due and an- 
cient Masonic form. 

When these ceremonies of the Grand Lodge were termin- 
ated, on a signal given to the Revenue Cutter, in the harbor 
of Adkin's Bay, a salute Ti^as fired from on board that vessel, 
accompanied by music from the Band. 

The chief marshal of the day then introduced the orator of 
the occasion. Mr. Poor, advancing to tlie front of the plat- 
form, spoke as follows : 



ADDKESS. 



We commemorate to-clay the great event of American 
history. We are assembled on the spot that witnessed 
the first formal act of possession of New-England, by a 
British colony, under the authority of a Royal Charter. 
We have come here, on the two hundred and fiifty-fifth 
anniversary of that event, to rejoice in the manifold 
blessings that have flowed to us from that act, — to 
place on record a testimonial of our appreciation of the 
value of that day's work, — and to transmit to future 
generations, an expression of our regard for the illustri- 
ous men who laid the foundation of England's title to 
the Continent, and gave a new direction to the history 
of the world. 

We meet under circumstances of deep and peculiar 
interest. "The waters of the same broad Sa2raclahoc,* 
move onward in their majestic course to the ocean ; the 
green summit of the beautiful Seguin still lifts itself in 
the distance — standing sentinel and breakwater to 
beat back the swelling surges of the sea ; the flashing 
foam of the Atlantic still washes the rocky shores of the 
Peninsula of Sabino, and the secure anchorage of this 
open bay receives the tempest-tost bark, as on the 
day that the " Gift of God," the gallant flyboat of 

* Sagadaboc, or Sachcdahock, is Indian, and signifies, " The going out of the 
waters," or ihc mouth of the river. Eaton's Annala of Warren, p. 15. 

5 



58 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

George Popliam, lielped into port Raleigli Gilbert's 
good sMp " Mary and Jolin," freiglited witli tlie hopes 
of a new empire. Behind us rises the green summit of 
yonder mount, around whose sides soon clustered the 
habitations of the intrepid Popham and his devoted 
companions; and the same rocky rampart that then 
encircled this proud bay, stands unmoved amid the 
changes of two hundred and fifty-five years. All else 
is changed. The white sails of many a gallant ship 
now cover this broad expanse of water; a towering 
light-house rises high above the summit of Seguin, 
throwing the rays of its Fresnel lens far out into the 
darkness, and along these rocky shores ; habitations of 
men dot every point of the surrounding landscape, 
while the stout steamer, unlike the ship of olden time, 
gladly encounters the rude waves of the oceanf 

"Against the wind, and against the tide, 
StUl steady, with an upright keel." * 

But the heart of man has changed less than all, in these 
two hundred and fi^fty-five years. It still bows submis- 
sive to Almighty God, and lifts its voice in j)rayer and 
praise, as when in the solemn service of his ritual 
their pious preacher uttered these memorable words : 

" At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of 
his sins from the bottom of his heart, I will blot all his 
wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the Lord." 

" I will go to my Father, and say to him, Father, I 
have sinned against heaven and against thee : I am no 
more worthy to be called thy son." f 

All this was permanent and enduring. The same 
duty and the same dependence upon God, as then, are 
upon us all. We seem to see before us the faithful 

* For dcscriiitiou of the localities alluded to, see Note A, iu the Appendix. 
f King James's Liturgy of 1601. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 59 

Richard Seymour,* clad in the habiliments of the 
priesthood, as we hear the same accents of j)rayer and 
praise that "he uttered, — when, before him knelt the faith- 
ful Popham and his hardy comrades, whose deep re- 
sponses were borne upward to the mercy-seat. We lis- 
ten to-day to the same strains of music, and to the 
same lessons, that first burst forth from human lips, on 
the shores of this great continent ! That same sense of 
sinfulness that then found utterance in the language of 
the liturgy, finds expression in our hearts to-day ; and 
may it please the Father of mercies so to mould all 
hearts, that these words of penitential confession shall 
find willing utterance from all lips, and these words of 
prayer and praise, raised in devout aspiration from all 
hearts, be continued from generation to generation 
through all time, till there shall be one fold and one 
Shepherd, and this i aortal reach immortality at the 
final consummation of all things. 

The greatness of an event is to be measured by the 
influence it exerts over the destinies of mankind. Acts 
of sublime moral grandeur, essential to the education 
of the race, may surpass in real magnitude the most 
brilliant achievements of material success, and the 
silent eloquence of truth, do more to conquer the fierce 
spirit of war, than the most imposing triumphs of war- 
like ambition. The ignominious execution of the 
Teacher of our Religion, in a remote and obscure pro- 
vince of the Roman Empire, was an event of so little 
interest at the time, as to be overlooked by the great 
writers of Roman history. The rise of the Christian 
sect in Judea, was noticed by the younger Pliny in his 
letter to the Emperor Trajan within the next hun- 

* WIio was Rkliard Sevmour ? See sketch of him by Bishop Burgess, Appen- 
dix B. 



60 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

dred years;* l3ut no liuman vision could tlien Lave 
foreseen, that their despised doctrines, would, within 
the next fev*^ hundred years, have become enthroned in 
the home of the Caesars, and give law to the civilized 
world. 

"When Hannibal led his disciplined troops from the 
shores of Africa, through the perilous passes of the 
Pyrenees and across the Alps, into Italy, and slew 
more in number of the Roman youth, than the entire 
force of his army, we instinctively honor this sublime 
exhibition of martial genius and energy. When at 
last he failed to conquer Rome, only from the lack of 
succor from his own countrymen, whose jealousy of his 
success destroyed their country, we respect that indig- 
nant sense of justice that bequeathed his bones to a 
foreign resting-place, lest his unworthy countrymen 
should in after-times be honored, by the homage done 
to his remains. We weep at every fresh recital of the 
splendor of his achievements, and the magnitude of his 
misfortunes, however much we may value the superior 
civilization of the Roman people over that of the Car- 
thaginians, as we reflect that the history of future times 
hung suspended, on the issue of that campaign. We 
are willing to rejoice, that at last his ungrateful nation 
was blotted from the earth, and Carthage lives only as 
a dishonor to history, while his name stands foremost, 
among warriors and heroes. 

When the brave and accomplished Champlain re- 
turned to France after an absence of three and a half 
years in Acadia,f having explored all these shores, and 
given them the names they now bear, and placed the 

* Lib. X. Epistle 99, a.d. 107. 

\ Champlaiu, with De Monts and his associates, sailed from St. Male March 17, 1604, 
in two ships. They returned to St. Malo September 28, 1G07. See Poor's Viudica- 
tiou of Gorges, and the authorities there cited, p. 20, et seq. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 01 

symLols of tlie autliorlty of Ms sovereign, from Cape 
Breton to Cape Cod, confidently anticipating the future 
greatness of his race and nation in this their secure 
home in the finest portion of the new world, he found 
that the charter granted to De Monts under which he 
held and occupied the country, had been revoked,* 
and that the most hopeful plan of empire ever revealed 
to human eyes, had been marred if not destroyed. 
With 2:enerous valor he souo;ht a new home amid the 
snows of the St. Lawi-ence, and in 1608 planted the 
flag and the power of France, ujDon the shores of that 
mighty river, where his bones now lie, in the midst of 
the race he there planted. But the folly of the great 
King Henry of Navarre, could not be overcome by 
any heroism on his part, for the stronger foothold of Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges had meanwhile been planted on the 
shores of this open sea, from Sagadahoc to Plymouth, and 
the flag of France was compelled to withdraw across 
the Sagadahoc, never more to return thither after 
1607, and finally lay in the dust before that cross of 
St. George, which first floated from the rocky ram- 
parts of Quebec on the 18th of September, lT59,f 
and the power of France was swept from the continent 
forever. But all hearts instinctively honor the im. 
mortal Champlain. The sympathy of all generous 
minds ever flows forth, at the utterance of his name. 
His monument still exists, in sight of an admiring 
posterity, more enduring than this stone we have this 
day raised in honor of another, and it shall forever 
remain in perpetual beauty, while the waters from the 
lofty summits of the Adii'ondac, mingling with those 

* Champlaius Voyages, p. 44, 45, 99, (ed. 1632.) L'Escarbot, p. 419, 2d 
edition, ltil2. 

•j- The battle was fought September 13, l'i'59 ; the surrender of Quebec was 
agreed on in the evening of the 17th, and the English flag raised, on the morning 
of the 18th. 



62 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of the Green Mountains, shall fill the deep recesses 
of the Lake, that bears the honored name, Cliaynp- 
lain /* 

Our duty to-day calls us to honor another, and a 
greater than Champlain ; not greater in purpose, but 
in the results he achieved for humanity and his race, 
and more entitled to our sympathy from the blessings 
we owe to his labors, — the man that gave North- 
America to his nation, and died without even the poor 
reward that followed his great rival. 

That colossal empire which Champlain planted on 
the St. Lawrence, and watched over till the close of 
his life,f which eventually held four fifths of the con- 
tinent, was unable to regain its possession on these At- 
lantic shores, and from this cause alone, it finally fell 
beneath the power and sagacity of England's greatest 
war minister, Pitt, who gave to the heroic Wolfe, in 
his youthful prime, the noblest opportunity for fame 
that has yet fallen to a leader of armies. But the hero 
who gave the continent to England, was neither Pitt 
nor Wolfe, but another and greater than either, the 
illustrious and sagacious Knight, whose manly daring 
and perseveriug energy, upheld the drooping cause of 
colonization in its darkest hours, against individual 
jealousy and Parliamentary injustice ; and saw, like 
Israel's great law-giver, from the top of the mountain, 
the goodly land that his countrymen should afterwards 
possess, though he was not allowed to enter it. J All 
honor, this day, to Sir Ferdinando Gorges. His praise 
is proclaimed by Puritan voices, after more than two 
hundred years of unjust reproach. His monument 

* See Mrs. Sigoumey's charming Sonnet to Champlain, in Note C of the Ap- 
pendix. 

f Champlain died in the discharge of the duties of the office of Governor-Gen'» 
oral of Canada, at Quebec, Dec. 25tii, 1635. 

\ See Poor's Vindication of Gorges, p. 80, and note. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 63 

stands proudly erect among tlie nations, in tliat consti- 
tutional government of tliese United States wliicli sheds 
blessings on tlie world.* His name, once perpetuated 
in our annals, was stricken from the records of the 
State, and no city, or town, or lake, or river, allowed 
to bear it to future times. But a returnins: sense of 
justice marks the American character, and two hundred 
years after his death it is heard once more in honorable 
renown.f Busy hands, guided by consummate skill, 
are now shaping into beauty and order, a work of en- 
during strength and national defense, that does honor 
to his name, and rising in sight of our chief commer- 
cial city, more beautiful in situation than any that 
graces the ^gean coast, or smiles from the Adriatic 
shore — the metropolis, too, of his ancient " Province of 
Mayne " — proclaims. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, FatJier of 
English colonization in America.% And in after-times, 

* Gorges foresaw and predicted the independence of the colonies of North- 
America, of the British crown. Briefe Nan-alion, p. 51, vol. ii. Maine Hist. Coll., 
also Poor's Vindication, p. 83. 

f Gorges died in 164*7. On the 6th of September, 1846, the Hon. George 
Folsom, of New-York, in an address before the Maine Historical Society, brought 
his claims to the public notice. See vol. ii. Maine Hist. Collections, p. 1. 

I i'oRT Gorges. — The new Fort in Portland Harbor, erected by the United States 
Government, on Hog Island Ledge, has been named by the Secretary of War, 
Fort Gorges, in honor of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, "the original proprietor of the 
Province of Mayne and the Father of English Colonization in America." 

In November last a petition was presented to the Secretary of War, as follows, 
namely : 

To THE Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War : 

The undersigned, citizens of Maine, respectfully ask, that the new fort now being 
erected in Portland Harbor by the United States Government, may be named Fort 
Gorges, in honor of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, " the original proprietor of the Pro- 
vince of Mayne, and the Father of English Colonization in America." 

And as in duty bound will ever pray. 
Wra. Willis, Ether Shepley, John A. Poor, Jed'h Jewett, 

John Mussey, George Ewans, Ashur Ware, Samuel Fessenden, 

Samuel Jordan, Geo. F. Emery, Charles Q. Clapp, Joshua Dunn, 

N. Deering, H. I. Robinson, Samuel P. Shaw, E. H. Elwell, 

Wm. P. Preble, P. Barnes, Henry Willis, Moses Macdonald, 

Manasseh H. Smith, John Neal, Oliver Gerrisli, Jabez C. Woodman, 

Geo. F. Shepley, D. W. Fessenden, A. W. H. Clapp, Thomas H. Talbot, 
F. A. Quinby, Wm. Senter, John M. Adams, Charles A. Lord, 

and others. 

Similar petitions were presented from Augusta, and the same were transmitted 
through Capt. Kurtz, of the Engineer Corps, in charge of the construction of the 
Fort. 



64 MEMOI^IAL VOLUME. 

when Ms race sLall become not only masters of the 
continent, but of the earth, and his mother tongue the 
universal language, History shall perpetuate the deeds 
of his genius, and Song shall make his name immortal.* 

The question that the European nations were called 
upon to solve, at the commencement of the seventeenth 
century, was, who should hereafter occupy and possess, 
the broad belt of the temj)erate zone of the New World, 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific seas. All previous 
explorations were preliminary efforts towards this one 
great object, but the question remained open and un- 
decided. The voyages of the Northmen to these shores, 
interesting to the curious, are of no historic value, 
because not connected with the colonization of the 
country — unless it shall hereafter appear that Colum- 
bus obtained from them information, as to the extent of 
the Western Ocean. At the time of discovery by 
Columbus, the only races inhabiting the New World, 
north of Mexico, were tribes of wandering savages, in- 
capable of accepting or acquiring habits of civilized 
life. An extinct race, had left their mounds in the 
West, and their deposits of oyster-beds along the shores 
of the Atlantic, and j^assed from traditionary story. 

The adventurous Magellan in 1520 proved, by the 
first voyage round the world, the , extent of the new 
continent, and in 1579, Sir Francis Drake, the first Eng- 
lishman that circumnavigated the globe, in that daring 

The Hon. John Appleton, Assistant Secretary of State, interested himself in the 
matter, and has forwarded us for publication the following note : 

Washington, April 2d, 1860. 
Very Dear Sir : I am much obliged for your note of this date. 
You may say to your correspondent in Maine, that the Secretary of War has 
oi'dered the fortification he refers to to be named "Fort Gorges." 

Yours, very truly, W. R. Drinkard. 

Hon. John Appleton, Asst. Sec'y of State. 

— Portland Advertiser of April 10th, 1860. 

* See in Note C, in Appendix, Mrs. Sigourney's admirable Poem on Gorges. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. G5 

voyage wliicli excited tlie admiration of liis conntry- 
meD, gave the name of New-England to tlie Pacific 
shores of the continent, wliicli name Captain Jolm 
Smith afterwards, to strengthen the title to the country, 
affixed to the Atlantic slope.* But till the beginning of 
the seventeenth century, North- America, north of Flori- 
da, remained unpeopled by Europeans. The Spaniards, 
the Portuguese, the French, the Dutch, and the English, 
had all made voyages of discovery, and laid claims to 
the country. As eaj^lj as 1542, it was parceled off to 
the three powers first named ; Florida, belonging to 
Spain, extending as far north as the thirty-third 
parallel of latitude; Verrazzan, or New-France, from 
the thirty-third to the fiftieth parallel; and Terra 
Corterealis, northward to the Polar Ocean, thus 
named in honor of Gasj^ar Cortereal, a Portu- 
guese, who explored the coast in the year 1500. 
The Spaniards were in pursuit of mines of gold and 
silver, the Portuguese inc^uest of shaves, and the French 
'with hopes of profit in the fur trade, and crude but 
indefinite ideas of colonization. 

Spain and Portugal originally claimed the New 
World by grant from the Pope.f England, practically 
abanclonino; all claim from the discoveries of Cabot on 
the Atlantic, and Drake on the Pacific coasts, laid down, 
in 1580, the broad doctrine, that prescription without 
occupation was of no avail ; that possession of the 
country was essential to the maintenance of title. J^re- 
scriptio sine possessio7ie, Jiaud valeat.% 

Before this time, the attention of England had been 
turned to the northern parts of America, with a view 
to colonization. As early as March 22, 1574, the Queen 

* John Smith's Description of New England, vol. ii. p. 2, Force's Tracts. Masa. 
Historical Coll. 3d series, vol. vi. p. 104. 
f Bull of Pope Alexander VI. 1493. 
X Camden's Eliz. Aunales, 1580. Sec Poor's Vindication of Gorges, p. 9. 



66 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

had been petitioned to allow of tlie discovery of lands 
in America '■^fatally reserved to England^ and for the 
honor of Her MajestyT^ Sir Htimplirey Gilbert's 
charter "for planting onr people in America," was 
granted by Elizabeth, June 11, 1578, and in 1580 
John Walker and his companions had discovered a 
silver mine in Norumbega. The explorations of 
Andrew Thevett, of John Barros, and John Walker, 
alluded to in the papers recently discovered in the 
British State Paj)er Office, under date of 1580, we find 
nowhere else recorded. The possession of New- 
foundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, was abandoned 
on his loss at sea, and it was not till 1 584, that the first 
charter to Sir Walter Ealeigh was issued, by Elizabeth. 
Raleigh named the country Viegestla., in honor of his 
Queen. Of the two colonies sent out by him, one re- 
turned, the other perished in the country, leaving no 
trace of its history and no record of its melancholy 
fate.f Thus, at the period of Elizabeth's death, in 
1603, England had not a colonial possession on the 
globe. 

Sir Richard Whitbourne had made voyages to New- 
foundland in his own ship in 1588,J and in 1600 there 
was a proposition to the Queen for planting a colony in 
the North-west of America^^ in which can be unmistak- 
ably traced the agency of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who 
it now appears was also concerned in the voyage of 
Gosnold in 1602, of Bring in 1603, and of George Wey- 
mouth in 1605, the earliest ones of which we have any 
authentic record. || That eloquent passage in Gorges' 
Brief e Narration^ in which he gives " the reasons and 

* Calendar of Colonial State Papers, edited by Sainsbury, vol. i. page \. 

I Bancroft's History, vol. i. pp. 102, 107. 

X Calendar of Col. State Papers, vol. i p. 82. 

8 See this paper in full in Poor's Vindication of Gorges. Appendix. 

I See Gorges' letter to Challous. Poor's Vindication, p. 34. 



POPHAM CELEBEATION. 67 

tie means of renewing the undertaking of Plantations 
in America," deserves our highest j^raise ; and it excites 
feelings of the warmest gratitude toward him, for it is 
a modest and touching statement, of his own heroic 
efforts, in the cause of American colonization * 

But the Hollanders and the French were equally 
aroused to the importance, and inflamed with the pur- 
pose, of seizing upon these shores. The vast wealth of 
the Dutch, their great commercial success prior to this 
time in both the East and West-Indies, gave them the 
advantage. Champlaiu, with greater knowledge of 
North- America than any of his rivals, had accompanied 
Pont Grave to the St. Lawrence, by direction of the 
King, in 1603, when, on his return to France, he found 
Acadia granted to De Monts, a Protestant, and a mem- 
ber of the King's household, under date of November 
eighth, 1603, extending across the continent, between 
the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude.f 

In the spring of 1604, De Monts, accompanied by 
Champlaiu, Pont Grave, Poutrincourt, and the learned 
and accomplished historian L'Escarbot, sailed from 
Dieppe for the occupation of the New Woeld. ^They 
planted their colony at St. Croix, within the limits of 
our own State, in 1604, J and in the spring and sum- 
mer of 1605, explored the coast under the lead of 
Champlaiu, from Campseau to Ca23e Malabar, twelve 
miles south of Cape Cod, " searching to the bottom of 
the bays," the same year that Weymouth exj^lored this 
most excellent and beneficial river of Sagadahoc. To 
make sure of the country, Champlaiu, Champdore and 
L'Escarbot remained three and a half years, fishing, 
trading with the natives, and occupying at Boston, Pis- 

* Gorges' Briefe Narration, p. 16. 

f L'Escarbot, p. 432, 2d edition. 1G12. 

jSeo Poor's Vindication of Gorges, p. 23, note. 



C8 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

cadouet, (Piscataqna,) Marcliin, (Portland,) Koskebee, 
(Casco Bay,) Kinnibequi, (Kennebec,) Pentagoet, (Pe- 
nobscot,) and all east, to Campseau and Ca23e Bre- 
ton. Returning to France in 1607, tliey found tlie 
charter of De Monts revoked,* on account of tlie jeal- 
ousy of his rivals, and a small indemity from the King 
their only reward, for these four years of sacrifice and 
unremitting toil. This shortsightedness of the great 
Henry of Navarre, cost France the dominion of the New 
"World. For on the return of Weymouth to Plymouth, 
in 1605, with five savages from Pemaquid, Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges gathered from them full particulars of 
this whole region, its harbors, rivers, natural character- 
istics and features, its people and mbde of government.^ 
Associating with himself the Earl of Southampton, J 
Gorges, relying upon these circumstances as a means of 
inflaming the imagination of his countrymen, petitioned 
the Kino^ for a charter.S which he obtained, under date 
of April tenth, 1606,|| granting to George Popham, and 
seven others, the continent of North- America, from the 
thirty-fourth to the forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, 
extending one hundred miles into the mainland, and 
including all islands of the sea within one hundred 
miles of the shore. This charter is the basis on which 
rests the title of our race to the New World. It pro- 
vided for a local government at home, intrusted to a 

*L'Escarbot, p. 400, 2d edition. 1612. Champlain, pp. 44, 45, 99. 

f Gorges' Briefe Narration. Maine Hist. Coll. vol. ii. p. 19. 

j Henry Wriothcsley, Earl of Southampton, the friend and patron of Shak- 
speare, was the third earl of that name, and grandson of Thomas Wriothesley, Lord 
Higli Chaneellor of England, under Edward VI. Created a peer February six- 
teenth, 1547, he died in 1550. His son Henry, was Lord Treasurer, and grand- 
fiither of Lady Rachel Russell. His patent of nobility was declared forfeited, under 
Elizabeth, but restored by James in 1G03. The third earl. Treasurer of the Vir- 
ginia Company, and the patron of letters and of American colonization, died iu 
command of an English regiment, in the Dutch service, in the Netherlands, in 
1624. The fourth earl died in 16GV, and the title became extinct. 

§Strachey's Travaile into Virginia, p. 161. 

11 See this charter iu full in Poor's Vindication of Gorges. Appendix, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. G9 

Council of Tliirteen, "vvitli two companies, one of North, 
and tlie otlier of South- Virginia, for caiTying into exe- 
cution the plans of colonization in the country.* The 
venerable Sir John Popham,f Chief Justice of England 
by the appointment of Elizabeth, a man of vast wealth 
and influence, became the patron of the Company ; and 
his son. Sir Francis Popham, was appointed by the 
King, mth Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the Council 
of Thirteen, under "whom, as the* Council of Virginia, 
the work of colonization was to be carried forward. J 
From the great fame of Chief-Justice Popham, and his 
interest in the matter, the colony sent by the North- 
Virginia Company was popularly known as Popham's 
Colony, though his name was not in the charter, or in- 
cluded among the Council. " The planting of New- 
England in the North, was by Chief- Justice Popham," 
said the Scotch adventurers, in their address to the 
King, September ninth, 1630, recently brought to our 
notice from the British State Paper Office. § In a work 
entitled Encouragement to Colonies^ by William Alex- 
ander, Knight, in 1625, he says: "Sir John Poj)ham 

* The Council of Virginia, appointed by King James, Xovember twentieth, 
1606, consisted oi fourteen persons instead of thirteen. Their names are given in 
a subsequent note. 

f Sir John Popham was born at Huntsworth, near Wellington, in Somersetshire, 
in 1531. He was at Oxford in 154.7, became distinguished at the bar in 1560; 
was made Sergeant at Law, and Solicitor General, June twenty-sixth, 1579. He 
was Speaker of the Commons in 1581 ; became Attorney-General June first,1581. 
He was knighted 1502; made Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench June eighth, 
159'2. He assisted at King James's coronation in 1603. September fifth and sixth, 
1604, King James and the Queen were entertained at Littlecote, the residence of 
the Chief-Justice. He was the richest lawyer of his time, having an income of 
ten thousand pounds per year. He died June first, 1607, and was buried at Well- 
ington. 

His eldest son was Sir Francis Popham, whose eldest son, John Popham, married 
June twenty-first, 1621, Mary, only daughter of Sebastian Harvey, at Stoke Xew- 
ington, but had no children. The family of the Chief-Justice is supposed to be 
extinct. 

The fact of his appointment as Chief-Justice by Elizabeth, in the later years of 
her life, proves him to have been a great lawyer. Elizabeth appointed the ablest 
men she could find to public office. 

1 See this charter in full in Poor's Vindication. Appendix. 
_ §This paper is now printed for the first time in the appendix to Poor'.s Vindica- 
tion of Gorges. 

2 



70 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

sent the first colony tliat went, of purpose to inhabit 
there jiear to Sagadahoc."* But until the comparative- 
ly recent publication of Strachey, the history of this col- 
ony was almost unknown. Two unsuccessful attempts 
at planting a colony were made in 1606.f 

On the thirty-first of May, 1607, the first colony to 
New-England sailed from Plymouth for the Sagadahoc, 
in two ships — one called the " Gift of God," whereof 
George Popham, brother of the Chief- Justice, J was 
commander ; and the other, the " Mary and John," com- 
manded by Raleigh Gilbert — on board which ships 
were one hundred and twenty persons, for planters. 
They came to anchor under an island, supposed to be 
Monhegan, the thirty-first of July. After exploring 
the coast and islands, on Sunday, the ninth of August, 
1607, they landed on an island they called St. George, 
where they heard a sermon, delivered unto them by Mr. 
Seymour, their preacher, and so returned aboard again. 
On the fifteenth of August they anchored under Seguin, 
and on that day the " Gift of God " got into the river 
of Sagadahoc. On the sixteenth, after a severe storm, 
both shijDs got safely in, and came to anchor. On the 
seventeenth, in two boats, they sailed up the river — 
Captain Popham in his pinnace, with thirty persons, 
and Captain Gilbert in his long-boat, with eighteen 
persons, and " found it a very gallant river ; many good 
islands therein, and many branches of other small rivers 
falling into it," and returned. On the " eighteenth, they 
all went ashore, and there made choice of a place for 
their plantation, at the mouth or entry of the river, on 

* A copy of this rare work is in the possession of Gen. Peter Force, of Washing- 
ton City. 

f See Poor's Vindication, pp. 38, 89. 

X Note by R. H. Mnjor, editor of Strachey's Travaile into Virginia, p. 27. Pub- 
lished by the Hakluyt Society — one of the vohnnes of its series. UuWtnrd's His- 
tory of Massachusetts l>ay, p. 10. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 71 

the west side, (for the river bendetli itself towards the 
nor-east and by east,) being almost an island, of good 
bigness, in a province called by the Indians, ' Sabino ' — 
so called of a Sagamo, or chief commander, under the 
grand bashaba." On the nineteenth, they all went 
ashore wher§ they had made choice of their planta- 
tion, and where they had a sermon delivered unto them 
by theu' preacher, and after the sermon, the President's 
commission was read, with the patent,* and the laws to 
be observed and ke23t.f 

* By the original charter, the company had the right to sell lands, work mines, 
coin money, transport thither colonists, expel by force all intruders, raise a reve- 
nue by imposts, carry out goods free of duty to the Crown, for seven years, with 
a denization of all persons born or residing in the country. 

f A constituent code of laws was prepared, and signed by King James, in accord- 
ance with the provision to this effect set forth in the seventh section of the charter 
of April tenth, 1606. Lucases Charters of the Old English Colonies, p. 4. 

This constituent code is contained in two ordinances, or articles of instructions, 
from the King, namely: 

I. Ordinance dated November twentieth, 1606, appointing 

Sir William Wade, Thomas Warr, Esq., Sir Henry Montague, 

Sir Walter Cope, Thomas James, Esq., John Doddridge, Esq., 

Sir Francis Popham, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, John Eldred, Esq., 

Sir John Trevor, Sir George More, James Bagg, Esq., 

Sir William Komney, Sir Thomas Smith, 

as the Council of Virginia. 
This ordinance provided that 

1. Each colony may elect associates, and annually elect a President for one 
year ; and assistants or councillors for the same time. 

2. The Christian religion shall be preached and observed as established in the 
realm of England. 

3. Lands shall descend to heirs as provided by law in England. 

4. Trial by jury of twelve men, in all criminal cases. Tumults, rebellion, con- 
spiracy, mutiny and sedition, murder, manslaughtei', incest, rape and adultery, 
only, are capital offences. 

5. In civil causes, the President and Council shall determine. They may pun- 
ish excesses in drunkenness, vagrancy, etc. 

6. All produce, or goods imported, to be stored in the magazine of the Company. 
7 They shall elect a clerk and treasurer, or cape-merchant. 

8. May make laws needful and proper, consonayit teith the laws of England 

9. Indians to be civilized and taught the Christian religion. • 

10. All offenders to be tried in the colony. 

11. Oath of obedience to be taken. 

12. Records of all proceedings and judgments fully set forth and preserved, im- 
plying a right of appeal. In all criminal cases, magistrates to susi)end sentence 
till opportunity of pardon is had by the king. 

These were the laws "to be observed and kept." 
( See Poor's Vindication of Gorges. Appendix.) 

II. Ordinance, dated Jlarch 9tli, ir.OT. 

On the recommendation, or nomination, of the Southern company, the following 
additional members of the Council of Virginia were appointed, namely : 



72 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

" George Popliam, gent., was nominated President. 
Captain Raleigli Gilbert, James Davies, Kichard Sey- 
mour, Preacher, Captain Ricliard Davies, Captain Har- 
lowe, were all sworn assistants ; and so tliey returned 
back ao-ain."* 

Thus commenced the first occupation and settlement 
of New-England. 

On a careful examination of this patent of King 
James, and of the articles, instructions and orders by 
him set down for the government of these colonies, 
we are struck with the sagacity and statesmanship 
every where evinced by the monarch. He rose 
superior to the notions of his times, reduced the 
number of capital offences to ten, and declared none 
should be capital but the more gross of political, and 
the more heinous of moral crimes. He gave them all 
the liberties they could desire. 

In the subsequent charters for Virginia and New- 
England, the same broad principles of self-govern- 
ment were in the main reenacted. 

In the contests with the King and Parliament of 
England, one hundred and fifty years later, the colo- 

Sir Thomas Challoner, Kt., Sir George Kopping, Kt., SirEdw'dMichilbourne, Kt., 
Sir Henry Nevil, Kt., Sir Thomas Rowe, Kt., Sir Tliomas Smith, Kt., 

Sir Robert Mansfield, Kt., Sir Fulke Grevil, Kt., Sir Robert Croft, Kt., 

Sir Maurice Berkeley, Kt., Sir John Scott, Kt., Sir Edward Sandys, Kt., 

Sir Thomas Ilolcroft, Kt., Sir Oliver Cromwell, Kt., Sir Anthony Palmer. 
Sir Robert Kelligrew, Kt., 

On the recommendation or nomination of the Northern Colony, the following 
additional members of the Council of Virginia were appointed : 
Sir Edw'd Hungerford, Kt.,Sir Richard Hawkins, Kt., Rernard Greenville, Esq., 
Sir John Mallett, Kt., Sir Bartholomew Mitchell,Kt., Edward Rogers, Esq., 
Sir John Gilbert, Kt.,* Edward Seamour, Esq., Rev. Matthew Sutclilf, D.D. 

Sir Thomas Freake, Kt., 

These appointments made the Council of Virginia to consist of forty instead of 
thirteen. There was a further provision that " any twelve of them, at least for the 
time being, whereof six at least to be members of one of the said colonies, and six 
more at least to be members of the other colony," "shall have power to choose offi- 
cers, call meetings," etc. (See Poor's Vindication of Gorges. Appendix.) 

*Strachey, p. 301, Maine Hist. Coll. vol. iii. 



* QWnii ton's Rislnry of British Empire in America, says Sir Jolin Oilbert w.'i 
Northern Virginia Company, p. 41. Stith's History of Virginia, pp. 74, 75. 



.'IS President of tlie 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 73 

nists only demanded their ancient rights^ as subjects of 
the British crown. From August 19, 0. S., 1607, the title 
of Ene:land to the new world was maintained. At this 
place they opened a friendly trade with the natives, 
put up houses and built a small vessel, during the 
autumn and winter. 

Richard Bloome, in his History of the Present State 
of the Territories in America^ printed in London 1687, 
says: 

"In the year 160T, Sir John Popham and others 
settled a plantation at the mouth of the river Saga- 
dahoc. But Capt. James Davis chose a small place, 
almost an Island, to sit down in, when, having heard 
a sermon, read the patent and laws ; and after he 
had built a fort, sailed further up the river. They 
call the fort St. George, Capt. George Popham being 
President; and the people (savages) seemed to be 
much affected with our men's devotion, and would say 
King James is a good King, and his God a good 
God ; but our God, Tanto^ is a naughty God. 

" In January, in the space of seven hours, they had 
thunder, lightning, rain, frost and snow all in very 
great abundance." 

On the 5th of February, 1608, George Popham 
died,* and his remains were deposited within the wall 
of his fort, which was named Fort St. George. 

It is well known that the Popham Colony, or a por- 
tion of them, returned to England in 1608, with the 
^hip they had built on this peninsula, the first speci- 
men of naval architecture constructed on this continent, 
named the " Virginia of Sagadahoc." 

But this possession of the Popham Colony proved 

* Prince's New-England Chronology, p. 118; Brodhead'a History of New- York, 
p. 14. 



T4 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

sufficient to establisli the title. The revocation of 
the charter to De Monts gave priority to the grant of 
King James, covering the same territory, and this 
formal act of possession vv^as ever after upheld, by an 
assertion of the title by Gorges. It vras sufficient, 
effectually, to hold the country against the French and 
Spaniards alii:e. ■^" When Argall, in 1613, destroyed 
the French settlement at Mount Desert, f the French 
Minister demanded satisfaction at the hands of the 
British nation. J But no notice was taken of this 

*The Spanish Secretary of State in 1612 and 1613 complained to King James 
for allowing his subjects to plant in Virginia and Bermuda, as the country belonged 
to Spain, by the conquest of Castile who acquired it by the discovery of Columbus, 
and the Pope's donation ; to which Sir Dudley Carleton, Secretary of State, by order 
of King James made answer: "Spain has no possessions north of Florida. They 
belong to the crown of England by right of discovery and actual possession by 
the two English colonies thither deducted., whereof the latter is yet there re7naining. 
These countries should not be given over to the Spanish." 

Gal. of Col. State Papers, vol. i. p. 14, Nos. 28 and 29 ; also page 16, Nos. 31 
and 32. 

In the memorials of the English and French Commission concerning the limits 
of Nova-Scotia or Acadia, under the Treaty of Utrecht, the French Commissioners 
Bay : " The Court of France adjudged that they had the right to extend the western 
limits of Acadia as far as the River Kinnibequi," (p. 39.) On page 98 of tho 
same Collectious it says : " Chief-Justice Popham planted the colony at Sagadahoc." 

■f Mount Desert was so named by Champlain in 1605. The English named it 
'Mount Mansell, in honor of Sir Robert Mausell, the highest naval officer of Eng- 
land, one of the grantees of the Virginia Company of 1609, and of the New-Eng- 
land Company in 1620. But it has retained the name of Mount Desert. It has always 
been celebrated for the excellence of its harbor and the boldness of its shores. 
It is the most celebrated locality on the Atlantic coast, and one of the three great 
harbors of the continent. The French Jesuits, who settled there in 1613, called it 
St. Saviour. Their precise place of settlement is described in the Relations of the 
Jesuits, vol. i. p. 44, 46, and has been identified by the accurate explorations of 
the Hon. E. L. Hamlin, of Bangor, the present year. In Poor's Viudication of i 
Gorges, Appendix, page 103, is a translation of the Jesuit Relation, describing 
this place, and of its destruction by Argall. 

What is of still more interest is the fact that this was the easternmost limits of 
Mawsheen, or of the English discoveries up to 1609. See Purchase, vol. iv. p. 1873. 
L'Escarbot, the historian of New-France and of I)e Monts' expedition, says the 
Sagamo Marchin was residing at their next place west of Kinnibequi, and they 
named the place 3farchin, (Portland,) in honor of him. Marchin was slain in 1607, 
and Bessabes was chosen captain in his place. Bessabes was slain also, and then 
Asticon was chosen in his stead. According to the statement in Purchase, vol. iv. p. 
1873-4, at the easternmost part of Mavosheen, at the river of Quibiquesson, dwelt 
Asticon. In 1613, Asticon was dwelling at Mount Desert, and the assurance given 
by his followers to Fathers Biard and Masse of his being sick and desirous of bap- 
tism at their hands, led them to go thither, and finally to yield to entreaties for 
making their settlement there, instead of at Kadesquit, (Kenduskcag,) Bangor, on the 
Penobscot, as they had agreed in 1611. It would seem from these facts ,that the 
authority of Asticou extended from Mount Desert to the Saco, the river of the 
Sagamo Ohnouchin. 

X Caleudai of Colonial State Papers, vol. i. p. 15. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 75 

demand, because the Frencli could show no claim, of 
title. Again in 1624, M. Tillieres, the French Ambas- 
sador, claimed the territory of New-England as a por- 
tion of New-France, and proposed to yield all claim to 
Virginia, and the country as far south as the Gulf of 
Mexico ; overlooking entirely the title of Spain to 
Florida, which had always been recognized as extend- 
ing to the thirty-third parallel of north latitude. 
France had at this time become aware of the im- 
portance of securing the title and possession of these 
shores.* King James called on Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
to prej^are a reply to the claims of the French monarch. 
" Whereunto," says Gorges, " I made so full a reply (as 
it seems) there was no more heard of their claim." f 
From the abstract of this i^eply, recently printed in 
the Calendar of British State Papers, it would seem 
that no notice was taken of the Leyden flock, who were 
then at Plymouth ; but Sir Ferdinando Gorges based 
the claim of his government on the ground of the 
charter of 1606, and the formal occupation of the 
country under it, with a continued claim of title. 

In 1631, Champlain, the greatest mind of his nation, 
ever engaged in colonial enterprise, the boldest and 
most wary of all his countrymen, second only to 
Gorges in the results he achieved, — in his memoir to 
his sovereign, as to the title of the two nations, says : 
" King James issued his charter twenty-four years ago, 
for the country from the thirty-third to the forty-fifth 
degree. England seized the coast of New-France, where 
lies Acadia, on which they imposed the name of New- 
England." X 

The Dutch West-India Company, in their address 

* Cal. of Col. State Papers^ vol. i. p. 60. 

■)- Gorges' Briefe Narration, p. 40. 
I Doc. Hist, of New-York, vol. ix. p. 112. 



76 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

to the States General, 1632, say: "In tlie year 1606, 
Ms Majesty of Great Britain gi^anted to his subjects, 
Tinder the names of New-England and Virginia, north 
and south of the river, (Manhattoes,) on express condi- 
tion that the companies should remain one hundred 
miles apart. Whereuj)on the English began, about the 
year 1607, to settle by the river of Sagadahoc. The 
English place New-England between the forty-first 
and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude." * 

In Garneau's History of Canada^ speaking of the de- 
struction of Mount Desert, and Port Royal, in 1613, he 
says : " England claimed the territory to the forty-fifth 
degree of north latitude." This was seven years before 
the date of the New-England Charter. This claim was 
founded on possession ; for England stoutly maintained, 
from the time of Elizabeth onward, that without posses- 
sion there was no valid title to a newly discovered 
country. 

This view of history is overlooked by Puritan 
writei-s, and those who follow their authority. That 
protection of the British nation which enabled the 
Puritans of Massacliusetts Bay, and the humble fol- 
lowers of Robinson, to establish, unmolested, homes 
in the New World, under organized forms of govern- 
ment, was grudgingly acknowledged by them, and the 
man who secured to them these blessings, and watched 
over them with the same jealous care as of his own 
colony — they always stigmatized as their great enemy,f 
because, among other acts of humanity, he allowed the 
mild and conscientious men, who could not yield im- 
plicit obedience to their fierce doctrines, and more 
barbarous laws, J to escape into Maine, and there remain 

* Holland Doc. N. Y., p. 61. 

\ Winthrop, vol. ii. p. 14 ; Bradford's Hist, of Plymouth, p. S28. 
\ None but church members shall be allowed the privileges of freemen. — Statute 
of 1631, Massachusetts Colony Laws, p. 117. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 77 

iinliarmed. When Cromwell granted to Sir Thomas 
Temple the country east of the Sagadahoc, at the time 
that the persecution of the Quakers was at its greatest 
height, with the design of affording them a place of 
refuge beyond the limits even of the Province of 
Maine,* which they had just conquered by violence; 
the anger of Massachusetts Puritans fell upon the 
head of the Protector, himself a Puritan, and an In- 
dependent of the straitest sect at home. But time 
allows no allusion to-day to historic details, except 
what is essential to the vindication of the truth of 
history. The fact that the 19th of August, Old Style, 
is the true date of the foundation of England's title 
to the continent, is all we are called upon to estab- 
lish. 

It may be said, that in giving this prominence to the 
occupation of the country by the colony of Popham, 
we overlook other events of importance in establishing 
the English title — the possession of the Elizabeth Isles 
by Gosnold in 1602, and the settlement of Jamestown 
May 13th, 1607, prior to the landing of the Popham 
Colony at Sagadahoc. 

In reference to the occuj)ation of Elizabeth Isles by 

Any attempt to change the form of government is punishable with death. — Statute 
of 1641, Col. Laws, p. 59. 

Absence from meeting on Sunday, fast, or thanksgiving, subjected the offender 
to a fine. — Col. Laws, p. 103. 

Keeping or observing Christmas was punishable by fine. — Col. Laws, p. 119. 

Wages to be regulated in each town by vote of the freemen of each. — Col. 
Laws, p. 156. 

Baptists are to be punished by banishment. — Colony Laws, 1646, p. 120. 

Qualiers to be imprisoned and then banished, on pain of death if they returned. 
—Colony Laws, 1658, p. 123. 

Witches shall be put to death — Colony Laws, 1641, p. 59. 

Magistrates shall issue warrants to a constable, and in his absence to any person, 
to cause Quakers to be stripped naked from the middle upward ; tied to a cart'a 
tail, and whipped from town to town till conveyed out of our jurisdiction. — Colony 
Laws, p. 125. 

Under these laws Baptists had their ears cropped in Boston as late aa 1658, and 
Quakers were put to death. 

*N. Y. Doc. Hist. vol. ix. p. 71, V5. 



78 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Gosnold, it is sufficient to say, tliat it was prior to tlie 
date of tlie Royal Charter, and consequently of no 
legal effect in establishing title. As to the settlement 
of Jamestown, it was south of the fortieth parallel of 
latitude, and therefore did not come in conflict with 
the French King's prior charter to De Monts. The ter- 
ritory between the fortieth and the forty-fifth degrees 
only, was in dispute. Although the ma23s of the time 
made New-France to extend from the thirty-third to 
the fiftieth degree of north latitude, France practically 
abandoned the country south of the fortieth degree 
from the time of the grant of the charter to De Monts, 
so that below that line south, it was open to any people 
who might have the courage to possess it ; this south 
line of De Monts' grant, intersecting what is now Penn- 
sylvania, just north of the city of Philadelphia, cutting 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois very nearly in their centre. 
Had there been no English settlement or occupancy 
north of the fortieth parallel of latitude prior to 1610, 
when Poutrincourt obtained a new grant of Acadia, the 
whole country north of that line must have fallen into 
the hands of the French. 

The reason, undoubtedly, why France at this time ex- 
tended her claims no further south than the fortieth par- 
allel was, a fear of exciting the jealousy and hostility of 
the Spaniards. In 1562, when Ribaut and Laudonniere 
planted at Port Royal, Sj^ain looked upon it as an in- 
vasion of her just domain, and promptly expelled the 
French invaders. Recent discoveries show that she 
watched with a most jealous eye the fate of the earlier 
voyages of Cartier from 1534 to 1541.* Spain, at that 
time, was the great military and naval power of Europe. 
There can be no doubt that the limiting of De Monts' 
charter to the fortieth parallel of latitude, seven degrees 

* See Historical Magazine, January, 1862, p. 14. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 79 

sliort of all lier previous claims, was induced by 
a dread of Spanish interference. Spanish jealousy 
showed itself equally in opposition to the English oc- 
cupation of the country, but their prompt assertion in 
1613 of their title, averring the actual occupation of the 
country, and the denial, on the part of King James, of 
any validity in the Bull of the Pope, upheld the right 
of England. 

It was not Spain, however, but France that became 
the actual competitor of England in the struggle for 
the new dominion. The relations of Spain and France 
were friendly. BetjN^een Spain and England there 
were many irritations, and so far had this ill-feeling 
grown, that the capture of English ships by Spanish 
cruisers was not an uncommon occurrence, as in the 
case of Challons, and others, bound to New-England, 
for purposes of colonization. 

The French, therefore, made no claim to that Vir- 
ginia occupied by the colony at Jamestown, while 
Spain claimed the whole country. French plans of 
empire looked northward and westward, resting their 
base on the great inland sea, or gulf lying inside Cape 
Sable and Cape Cod, where, for a whole century pre- 
\aous, fi*om 1504, and onward, their fishermen had 
found the choicest treasures of the sea. 

Whoever held this region, as all now see, must 
eventually become the dominant power of the New 
World. 

The national feeling was not fully aroused in either 
country to the greatness of the prize at stake. Cham- 
plain comprehended the true measure of the occasion, 
and its importance to his country; while Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges, with equal grasp of intellect, rested on a 
more secure foundation the confidence of his sovereign. 



80 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

But the peoj^le of England were incapable of estimat- 
ing tlie value of tlie prize, or doing justice to the man 
who secured it. 

In the debate in the House of Commons, in 1621 
and 1622, on the bill to abrogate or annul the New- 
England charter, and throw open the fisheries, briefly 
reported in the ^parliamentary journals, the issue was, 
" WJiicli is of most value^ fishing or ^ylantatioiis f and 
the result showed that the enemies of colonization were 
in the ascendant, and a bill to this eifect passed the 
House. By the influence of the King acting with the 
Lords, it was prevented from becoming a law.* 

From the time of the first conflict at Mount Desert, 
where Father Du Thet was killed in defending "his 
home, in 1613 — the first shedding of blood between 
the French and English on this continent — till the fall 
of Quebec, in 1759, and the Treaty of Peace conse- 
quent thereon, in 1763, surrendering New-France to 
Great Britain, there was a strife of races, of nationali- 
ties and of religion for the territory of New-England, 
while Virginia, along the Atlantic slope, was never 
molested by the French. 

The western boundary of Virginia was the Pacific 
Ocean, and she came into conflict with France when she 
crossed the AUeofhanies and descended into the Missis- 
sippi Basin, and there met the French settlers, who had 
seized upon the western waters, claiming a continuous 
possession of the entire regions drained by the waters 
of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence. Had Eng- 
land acquired nothing in the way of title in the New 

* April 19, 1621, "Mr. Neale said tlirqe hundred sliips, at least, had gone this 
year from these ports," p. 591. Nov. 20, ftt21, ''Mr. GlanvjUe moved to speed 
the bill," etc. "Sir Ferdinando Gorges hath exhibited patent," etc. "Friday 
next Sir F. G., to be heard," p. 640. Dec. 1, 1621, Bill under consideration. 
" Mr. Guy moves a provision; debate by Mr. Neale, Mr. Secretary, Dr. Gooch, Sir 
Edward Gyles, Mr. Guy, and Shewell, which is of most value, fishing or planta- 
tions? £120,000 brought in annually by fishing." " Provision lost. Bill passed, 
p. 054." — Extracts from the Journal of the Commons. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 81 

World nortli of tlie fortietli parallel prior to tlie Ply- 
mouth Plantation in 1620, there is no reason to doubt 
that France would have swept the British power from 
the continent at the first clash of arms with Great 
Britain. 

It was this possession of the shores of the Atlantic 
Ocean, within the limits of the fortieth and forty-fifth 
degrees of north latitude, prior to 1610, that settled 
the future destiny of the continent of North- America. 
The consummation of title, therefore, perfected by the 
act of possession of August nineteenth, O. S. 1607, by 
the Popham Colony, whose two hundred and fifty-fifth 
anniversary we this day celebrate, must, if these premi- 
ses are admitted, forever remain the great fact in the 
history of the New World. 

The Maine Historical Society, whose duty it is made, 
by the charter establishing it, " to collect and preserve 
whatever may tend to exj)lain and illustrate the civil, 
ecclesiastical, and natural history of this State and the 
United States," was pleased to aj^prove of the act of 
two of its members, then in the service of the State, 
who petitioned the authorities of the General Govern- 
ment, that this great work of national defence, then 
about to be undertaken, should be named Fort 
PopiiAM, in honor of George Popham, the Governor, 
who led the first British Colony into New-England, 
under the charter of April 10, 1606, and who, dis- 
charging the duties of his office as President, and pre- 
senting a report in the form of a letter, to the King, 
dated at Fort St. George, December 13, 1607,* here 
laid down his life — the first man of the English race 
whose bones were laid beneath the soil of New-Eng- 
land. 

* PopliaTu's Letter in the Maine Hist. Coll. vol. v. p. 84L 



82 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The venerable Chief of the Engineer Bureau of the 
United States Army, to whom this petition was re- 
ferred, ever jealous of the honor of his country, not 
only as to the character of its military structures, but 
as to the names, to whose honor they should attest — 
promj)tly indorsed the application, and it met the ready 
approval of the Secretary of War.* 

To mark, with greater distinctness, the event thus 
commemorated, the Maine Historical Society asked 
permission to place within the walls of this Fort a 
Memorial Stone, bearing on its face an appropriate in- 
scription of the event ; and that a Tablet, in memory 
of George Popham, so honorably associated with the 
great event of that period, should be allowed to form a 
portion of its walls. 

By the favor of the Government we have this day 
performed that duty, with appropriate form and cere- 
mony. The learned President of the Maine Historical 
Society has announced the historic facts on which this 
somewhat novel proceeding has taken place. The ac- 
complished and honored Chief Magistrate of the State 
has given to the occasion the influence of his official 

* The following correspondence, copied from the files of the War Office, shows 
the prompt action of the Government in the matter : 
To THE Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War : 

The undersigned, citizens of Maine, respectfully request that the new Fort to 
be erected at the mouth of the Keneliec river, in Maine, may be named Fort 
Popham, in honor of Capt. George Popham, brother of the learned Chief-Justice 
Popham, of England. 

Capt. George Popham, as the Governor of the first English Colony in New-Eng- 
land, built a fort at or near the site of the proposed fort, in the year 1607, where 
he died February 5, 1608, and was buried, being the first person of his race whose 
bones were laid beneath the soil of New-England, and whose grave will be appro- 
priately marked by the fort that rises over his place of burial. 

(Signed) John A. Poor, 

Washington, November 18, 1861. Reuel Williams 

This proposal for a name was favorably received at the Engineer Bureau, by 
General Totten, who laid the matter before the Secretary of War. ' 

On the 23d of November, General Cameron acted ou the foregoing petition, and 
entered thereon : " Name approved. 

" Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. 

"War Department, Washington, November 23, 1861." 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 83 

station, and tlie more acceptable service of eloquent 
words, proclaiming the importance of the event com- 
memorated, upon the history of the country and the 
world, while the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of 
Maine and the President of our oldest Seminary of 
leariiino-, as Chairman of the Standino- Committee of 
the Maine Historical Society, have jointly participated 
in the appropriate services of this occasion, and that 
most ancient, Masonic Fraternity, has lent to the cele- 
bration whatever of dignity or grace the wisest of 
their Order have been able to embody in artistic form 
and expression. "With the consent of the Government, 
these imposing ceremonies have proceeded, and finally 
the skillful hand of him who is charged with the con- 
struction of this Fort,'^' will place this stone in its final 
resting-place — ^for the information of those who come 
after us — proclaiming to future times, in the simple 
eloquence of truthfuh words, that 

The First Colony 
On the Shores of New-England 
Was Founded Here, 
, August 19th, O. S. 1607, 

under 
George Popham. 

It would ill comport with the dignity of this occa- 
sion to fail to speak of him, whose name is thus imper- 
ishably connected with the history of our State and 
Nation. To his family and the events of his life others 
may more appropriately refer. We allude to him as a 
public man, and to his claims to public gratitude and 
respect. His chief distinction is, that he was one of 
the eight persons named in the great charter of April 
10th, 1606, and that he led to these shores the first col- 
ony under that charter. In it he is styled gentleman^ 

* Captain T. L. Casey, U, S. Engineers. 



84 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

and lie must liave been a man of consequence and posi- 
tion, from the fact that he was one of its grantees. 
After his death, Gorges, in a few brief lines, thus sums 
up his character : " He was well stricken in years, and 
had long been an infirm man. Howsoever, heartened 
by hopes, willing he was to die in acting something 
that might be serviceable to God, and honorable to his 
country."^ A glorious consummation of a long life, 
devoted to duty, to his country, and his God.f 

Within the walls of this Fort, and as a companion- 
piece to the memorial stone, which records the historic 
fact of this day's celebration, the Maine Historical So- 
ciety will place a tablet in memory of George Popham, 
expressing, in that sonorous Latin language which he 
employed in his communication to the King, and which 
was at that time used by all who wrote for enduring 
fame, these words : 

In Memoriam 
GEORGII POPHAM, 

Anglias qui primus ab oris 

Coloniam collocavit in Nov. Anglias terris, 

Augusti mense annoque MDCVII. 

Leges literasque Anglicanas 

Et fidem ecclesiamque Christi 

In has sylvas duxit. 

Solus ex colonis atque senex obiit 

Nonis Februariis sequentibus, 
Et juxta hunc locum est sepultus. 

Societate Historica Mainensi auspicante. 

In praesidio ejus nomen ferente. 

Quarto die ante calendas Septembres 

Annoque MDCCCLXII. 

Multis civibus intuentibus. 

Hie lapis positus est. 

* Gorges' Briefe Narration, p. 22, vol. ii. Maine Hist. Coll. 
\ Mrs. Sigourney has since embodied in eoug, in one of her happiest efifortB, the 
heroic deeds of Popham. See Appendix C. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 85 



[tbanslation.] 



In Memory of 

GEORGE POPHAM 

Who first from the shores of England 

Founded a Colony in New-England 

August, 1607. 

He brought into these wilds 

English laws and learning 

And the faith and the Church of Christ. 

He only of the colonists, and in his old age, died 

' On the fifth of the following February 

And was buried near this spot. 

Under the auspices of the Maine Historical Society 

In the Fort bearing his name 

August 29, 1862, 

In the presence of many citizens 

This stone was placed. 

This fort, so conspicuously placed, bearing these ap- 
propriate testimonials, thus becomes a fitting monument 
to perpetuate the events of the early history of New- 
England, and transmit to future times, the memory of 
those illustrious men who laid the foundation of Eng- 
lish colonies in America ; to which the laws, the insti- 
tutions and civilization of England were transferred, 
and from which, has sprung the glorious fabric of 
American Constitutional Government. 

Standing here to-day, in sight of the spot where Pop- 
ham, two hundred and fifty-five years ago, took upon 
himself the office of President, and near the place where, 
on the fifth of February follomng, he died, it seems our 
privilege to be admitted into his presence-chamber, as 
for the last time he had summoned around him his 
faithful assistants and companions, and gave commands 
for the future. The scene is worthy of a painter's pen- 
cil and a poet's pen. The ever-faithful and heroic 
Kaleigh Gilbert, "a man," says Gorges, "worthy to be 
3 



86 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

beloved of them for his industry and care for their well- 
being" — the future President of the colony — is by his 
side. The pious Richard Seymour administers to him 
words of comfort and consolation. Captain Richard 
Davies, of all his assistants, was absent in England. 
His devoted companions stand around their dying chief, 
when, in the language of Israel's great law-giver, laying 
the burden of the government on Joshua, he might well 
say to Raleigh Gilbert: "Be strong and of a good 
courage, for thou must go with this people into the 
land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to 
give them: and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. 
And the Lord he it is that doth go before thee: he 
will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake 
thee : fear not, neither be dismayed." 

" So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, in 
the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 
And ]ie l)uried him in a valley in the land of Moab, 
over against Bethpeor; but no man knoweth of his 
sepulchre unto this day." 

In the far-distant future, not two hundred and fifty- 
five years from this day, the period of time that has in- 
tervened since his death, but in that period of more 
than three thousand years to come, like that from the 
death of Israel's law-giver, to that of Popham, these 
stones which are here builded, shall mark the place of 
his sepulture, and the myriads of thronging pilgrims, led 
l^y eager curiosity, to tread the soil of this peninsula of 
Sabino, hereafter made classic by song and story, shall 
pause and read, on that memorial stone, the record of 
his great work ; and when we who are now here, shall 
have passed away, and beyond the reach of story or 
tradition, Popham's name shall live in the history of the 
m.ighty race, who have changed this continent from one 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 87 

vast wildernesss to a marvel of refinement and beauty, 
fitted for tlie enjoyment of civilized, man. 

His sagacity and ability are best evidenced by tlie 
fact, that after the experience of two hundred and fifty- 
five years, the highest military skill has confirmed the 
•wisdom of his choice of a place of settlement, by the 
adoption of it as the proper site of the great work of 
defence for the Kennebec River.* 

To this sj)ot multitudes shall annually repair, for this 
region will continue to be, what it ever was, to the early 
navigators and colonists of both France and England — 
a chief j)oint of interest. The French historian L'Es- 
carbot, speaking of this river, says ^Ht shortened tlie 
way " to the great river of Canada.f Gosnold's land- 
fall, in 1602, was at Sagadahoc. J Priug, in 1G03, 
made it the chief pqjnt of his discoveries; and the 
great voyage of Weymouth was to "the most ex- 
cellent and beneficyall river of Sagadahoc."§ Here 
the English remained in 1608 and. 1609, as related by 
the French Jesuits. | Here Vines pursued his voca- 

* See Note A, with its accompanying Map. 

f L'Escarbot, p. 497. 

X Strachey, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 155 ; caption at the head of the chapter. 
See Poor's Vindication of Gorges, p. 30, note 2. 

§ Much controversy and discussion have arisen as to the route of Weymouth, and 
as to the river he explored. Bcllinap's authority was generally accepted, fixing it at 
the Penobscot, till the critical eye and more ample knowledge of the late John 
McKeen, Esq., detected its errors. He maintained that the Kennebec was the 
true river. Mr. George Prince and Rev. Mr. Cushman have argued in favor of the 
river St. George. Mr. R. K. Sewall iind Rev. Mr. Ballard maintain the views of 
Mr. McKeeu. Hon. W. Willis adheres to Belknap's authority. Ktrachey's posi- 
tive statement that it was the Sagadahoc, was unknown to Belknap. 

I find in Purchase, a f;ict not alluded to by any of these writers, that may aid in 
solving the difficulty. John Stoneman, of Plymouth, who went out with Wey- 
mouth, in 1605, sailed as pilot in the ship Richard, of Plymouth, in charge of 
Henry Challons commander, in Gorges' employ, to found the colony at Sagadahoc, 
in 160(j. Nicholas Kine, of Cockington, near Dartmouth, was master. Although 
Challons failed of his object, by disregarding his instructions, and was taken cap- 
tive by the Spaniards, his purpose of going to Sagadahoc is expressly stated, and 
his pilot was of Weymouth's party in 1605. 

This discovery of the name of Hine^ as master under Challons, also relieves us 
of the difficulty in the apparent contradiction between Gorges and Strachey ; the 
former using the name of Challons as master, the latter calling the master's name 
Haines, leading us to suppose (here were two several voyages, instead of one in lact. 

Q Relations of the Jesuits, vol. i. p. 30. 



'88 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

tion,* and hither all tlie fishing vessels came, because 
the finest fish were taken in this region. The salmon 
of the Kennebec are to this day known in all our cities. 

The Council of New-England, on the twenty-fourth 
of July, 1622, set apart " two great islands in the river 
of Sagadahoc to be reserved for the public plantation," 
and " a place between the branches of the two rivers " 
"/(9r a- ptiMiG city.^'''^ Though the strife of races and 
of nationalities has kept back the settlement of this 
whole re2:ion, and the still more disastrous conflicts of 
rival grants and . hostile occupation, destroyed for gen- 
erations all plans of improvement, who shall dare to 
say that these plans shall not be realized ? 

When this Acadian peninsula, with its one hundred 
and fifty thousand square miles of territory, and its 
abundant resources, shall contain a population equal 
to that now peopling the British Isles, — this magnifi- 
cent estuary, with its deep sea-soundings, discharging a 
larger volume of water than any river of the Atlantic 
coast, betAveen the St. John and the Mississippi, may 
become the chief seat of wealth and power, of the 
mighty race who inhabit the continent, — why then may 
not the history of other lands become ours, and another 
Liverpool here rival the great commercial city of New- 
England ; and Boston become to the city of the Saga- 
dahoc, what Bristol is to the great shipping port of the 
Mersey ? % 

We miss from our celebration to-day, one who was 
instrumental in creating the immediate occasion of it, 
and in affixing the name of Popham to this great pub- 

* Gorges' Briefe. Narration, p. 24. 

f Minutes of the Council of New-England, July twenty-fourth, 1622. Calendar 
of Col. State Papers, vol. i. p. 32; This paper is given in full in Poor's Vindica- 
tion of Gorges, in the Appendix. 

\ Tlie extraordinary advantages of Bath for a naval and military depot, are ad- 
mitted by all military engineers, but no efifort adequate to such a consummation 
has yet been made. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 89 

lie work, and wlio looked forward with, prophetic eye 
to tliis day's proceedings. 

The propriety of associating important historic events 
with works of national defence, and of attesting thereby 
to the fame of the actors therein, met the approval of 
his mature judgment, and his last act of public duty 
was an appeal to the Secretary of War for the erection 
of this fort, and affixing to it the name it now bears.* 
His stern countenance relaxed into a smile at the first 
suggestion of this anniversary celebration, and the plac- 
ing within the walls of this fort of this memorial stone. 

Born on the banks of this river, the place of his birth 
continued for fourscore years to be his home ; and with- 
out the aid of anything but his strong character and his 
indomitable will, he reached wealth and eminence early 
in life, and bore at the close of it, the title of " the first 
citizen of Maine." f 

This is not the time or place to pronounce his eulogy ; 
an abler pen at the appointed hour shall perform this 
pleasing duty. But among the many memorials of his 
enterprise and public spirit that adorn the banks of the 
Kennebec, this fort attests and will attest the praise of 
Reuel Williams, while it is made by this day's celebra- 
tion a fitting monument to preserve in remembrance 
the greater events of an earlier time. 

We must not, in this connection, forget our obliga- 
tions to the people of the colony of Massachusetts, 
and the early settlers of Plymouth, for their share in 
conquering the continent for our race, though deal- 
ing harshly with Maine. J These Massachusetts Puri- 

* By appointment of Governor Washburn, Mr. Williams visited Washington, 
November first, 1861, as one of the Commissioners of Maine, in reference to the 
public defences of the State, his first visit after eighteen years' absence. He 
retired from the Senate in 1843, resigning after having been reelected for six years. 
He left Washington Xovember eighteenth, 1861, after a personal interview on that 
day with the Secretary of War. 

•}• Hon. I. Washburn, Jr., Governor of Maine. 

X See petition of Edward Godfrey and other inhabitants of Maine, to the Parlia- 
ment of the Commonwealth. Cal. Col. State Papers, vol. i. p. 479. 



90 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

tans of tlie Saxon type, inheriting all tlie gloomy 
errors of a cruel and bloody period, under tlie iron 
rule of tlie Tudors, were ready to demand of Elizabetli 
the enforcement of tlie Act of Uniformity against 
Papists, but refused obedience to it themselves. Nor 
would tbey yield to tbe decision of a majority of the 
clergy, who in 1562, in full convention, voted to retain 
the priestly vestments and the forms of a liturgy. While 
agreeing to all the doctrines of its creed, they grew 
restless under the forms of the church service, elevated 
non-essentials into the dignity of principles, and stigma, 
tized the Prayer-Book and the priestly robes as badges 
of Popery. 

They imagined that by a severe austerity they 
secured the favor of God, and became his chosen peo- 
ple. They mistook their hatred of others for hatred of 
sin. They set up theii* own morbid convictions as the 
standard of right, and rather than submit to the laws 
of their own land, they endured their penalties, or 
sought escape from them by expatriation. 

Once planted on the shores of New-England, the 
Puritans of Massachusetts Bay endeavored to extermi- 
nate every thing that stood in the way of their ambi- 
tion. * Hence, after their conquest of Maine, they 

Also, Godfrey's Letters in Mr. Geo. Folsom's Catalogue of Papers in the English 
State Paper Office in relation to Maine, pp. 52, 54. 

* The charter of the Massachusetts Company of March 4th, 1629, author- 
ized them to make laws and ordinances for their government, "noi contrary to 
the laws of England^ Notwithstanding this they proceeded at once to frame 
a code of laws designed for the purpose, abrogating the laws of England whenever 
they stood in the way of their own wishes. The obvious purpose of the charter 
was to allow such ■ minor regulations to be made as might meet the peculiar 
wants of the local population. A similar provision is inserted in charters in 
modern times, designed to allow the recipients of such grants to exercise their 
rights in any way they choose, not infringing any of the general laws of the State. 
These Puritans construed their grant differently from all others, because they designed 
to establish a religious community on a plan of their own, discarding all portions 
of the English law, unless reenacted by themselves. 

Their be-praised Body of Liberties enacted hi 1641, but not printed, till within 
about thirty years since, virtually abrogated the laws of England. 

Equally striking was their claim to the territory of Maine. Tlie political troubles 
at home, from IBS? to the restoration of Cliarles II., in 1600, withdrew public 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 91 

gloried in extirpating every trace of title granted to 
otliers, making war on whatever was opposed to them, 
aiming at unlimited despotism. True, they planted 
other men's fields, instead of devastating them, and 
seized upon the territory of others by the same 
authority and in the same spiiit as the Israelites 
di'ove out the tribes, that formerly possessed the valley 
of the Jordan. 

It is hardly necessary to remind the student of Ameri- 
can history that, at the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, as at the beginning, the two great geographical 
divisions of Ens-lish dominion on this continent, north 
of the Delaware, were " the Provinces of New- York and 
Sagadahoc." Such are the definitions employed in the 
grant of that dominion by King Charles II. to his 
brother, the Duke of York ; and such are the titles 
under which the Duke of York, when he ascended the 
throne as James II., commissioned his Governor, Col. 
Thomas Dongan, afterwards Earl of Limerick, to exer- 
cise authority over these countries. In England, a 
country of precedents, where the law advisers of the 
Crown always scrupulously adhered to ancient records 
in the preparation of official documents, such recogni- 
tion, eighty ye^rs after the death of George Popham, is 
another proof, if any were wanting, of the legal estab- 
lishment of Eng^land's claims in these latitudes beins: 
inseparable from the foundation of the fii'st settlement, 
which to-day we commemorate. 

To review, in the most hurried manner, the events 

attention almost entirely from America, and it was not till ICTB that the heirs 
of Gorges, nearly worn out in the controversy, obtained a decision in their favor 
against her usurpations. Thereupon March 13, 1677, for £1250 they purchased 
the title of Gorges' heirs. 

Finally in 1084, on scire faciax, the Court of Chancery declared their charter 
forfeited, and thereby put an end to the Massachusetts theocracy. 

A new charter protecting all Protestant Christians in the exercise of their 
religion, was granted by William and Mary, in 1691, including the colony of 
Plymouth and of Massachusetts, the Province of Maine, and Sagadahoc, under one 
govei-ument, and Sir William Phipps, a native of Maine, was appointed Governor. 



92 



MEMORIAL VOLUME. 



affecting our race, that have transpired witliin tlie two 
hundred and fifty-five years since it was planted here, 
would transcend the proper limits of this occasion. Less 
than five millions of people, at that time engaged in the 
ruder forms of labor, were shut up in the narrow limits 
of the British Isles, — those who speak the English lan- 
guage to-day in the two hemispheres, hold dominion 
over one fifth of the earth's surface, and govern one 
fourth of the human species.* 

Their material greatness commenced with colonizing 
North- America. Slowly, patiently and in much suffer- 
ing,' our fathers gained j)ossession of this soil. . The 
title was secured by the act of possession of the Pop- 
ham Colony. Others came in to help to hold it; 
political troubles at home favored emigration hither ; 
and one hundred years after Popham, three hundred 
thousand people of the Saxo-Norman race inhabited 
the then eleven existing colonies. During the next 
sixty years they had mastered the French, and gained the 
Atlantic slope from the St. Lawrence to Florida. Be- 
fore the end of the next one hundred years the same peo- 
pie had grown into the Colossal Empire of the West, em- 
bracing thirty-four States, and regions yet unpeopled of 
still greater extent, including, in all their dominions, a 
territory equal to the continent of Europe, inhabited 
by more than thirty millions of human beings, sjDeak- 
ing one language ; while a new power has arisen in 
North- America, the Colonial Empire of Great Britain, 
extending over a larger, but less valuable territory than 
the United States, and containing more than three mil- 
lions of inhabitants. 

Temporary differences and periods of alienated feel- 
ing, will from time to time arise, but nothing can pre- 
vent the gradual and cordial union of the English- 
speaking people, of this continent in every thing essen- 

* See Appendix D, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 93 

tial to tlieir liigliest welfare. Thougli di\aded into 
vario'us governments, each pursuing its own lawful 
ends, in obedience to that principle of political harmo- 
ny, that allows each to revolve, in its own appropriate 
o^'bit, around its common centre, an enlightened sense 
of justice, and obedience to the Divine law, as the 
highest of all good to communities and states, is the 
daily lesson of their life. Let, then, each returning an- 
niversary of this day's commemoration draw closer and 
closer the bonds of fraternal fellowship, and strengthen 
those ties of lineage that shall gradually encii'cle the 
earth, and constitute all mankind of various races and 
nationalities, one final brotherhood of nations. 

Two hundred and fifty-five years have sufficed to 
change this wilderness continent, as if by enchantment, 
into the home of a refined civilization. Cultivated 
fields, clustering villages, the refinements of city life, 
rise to our immediate view ; stretching from this point 
eastward to Ascension Bay, — northward to the Lauren- 
tian Hills, — southward to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
westward to the Pacific seas, where San Francisco, at 
the Golden Gate, at the touch of the telegraph, sends 
to us kindly greetings for this hour. 

The improvement in agricultural implements, the 
wonders of the power-loom and the spinning-jenny, the 
marvels of the steamship, the mysteries of the photo- 
graph, the magic of the telegraph, and the omnipotent 
power of the locomotive railway, have since been made 
our ever-willing ministers, so that man seems almost in 
vested with ubiquity and omnijDotence ; yet each re- 
volving year brings forth new marvels, till the finite 
mind is overwhelmed at any attemj)t to forecast the 
future. 

And the historian of our race traces back this develop- 
ment to the two first acts in the great drama of Ameri- 
can histoiy by which fhe title of England to the Con- 



04 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

tineut was establislied ; tlie first, closing Avitli tlie grant 
of the Great Charter of April lOth, 1606 ; the second, 
with the formal act of possession of the New World 
under it, August 19th, O. S. 1607, thereby making the 
title, forever clear and unquestionable. 

On that day, and upon this peninsula of Sabino, was 
unfurled that j)roud flag that had so long braved the 
battle and the breeze ; then our fathers' flag — and now 
the flag of the Fatherland — and beneath its waving 
folds were proclaimed, for the first time, the political 
princijDles which lie at the foundation of free govern- 
ment, in ever memorable words. 

" I give," said King James, " to my loving subjects, lib- 
erty to settle Virginia, in the north of America, between 
the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north lati- 
tude. I authorize them to transport thither any of my 
own people, or those of other lands, and appoint over 
them a government of their own choice, subject to my 
approval, according to the laws of this kingdom. I au- 
thorize them to work mines, coin money, collect duties 
by imposts, and to expel all intruders therefrom by mili- 
tary force ; and I declare, that all children born therein, 
and all persons residing therein, are, and shall always 
remain citizens, entitled to all the rights, privileges, and 
immunities of the loyal subjects of the British realm. 

" And I do further declare, that these, my lo\dng 
subjects, shall have the right annually to elect a Pres- 
ident, and other ofiicers ; that the Christian Reli- 
gion, established in this our kingdom, shall be therein 
preached and observed ; that lands shall descend to 
heirs, according to the provisions of our ancient laws ; 
that trial by jury of twelve men is established in all 
criminal cases, with a right of pardon by the King ; 
that in civil causes the President and Council shall de- 
termine between party and party, keeping full records 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 95 

of all proceedings and judgments, witli a riglit of ap- 
peal to tlie King in council; tliat no man shall be 
tried as an offender outside of the Colony where the 
alleged offence was committed, and no offences shall 
.be capital except tumult, rebellion, conspiracy, mutiny^ 
and sedition, murder, manslaughter, incest, rape, and 
adultery. And I do further declare, and ordain, that 
my loving subjects in America shall forever possess and 
enjoy the right to make all needful laws for theii' own 
government, provided only, that they be consonant to 
the laws of England. And these, my loving subjects, 
shall be, and forever remain, entitled to the protection 
of the British Crown, and I establish over them the 
government of the King of Great Britain, France, and 
Ireland."* 

This charter of liberties was never revoked. It was 
a decree of universal emancipation, and every man of 
any color, from any clime, was by this act of King 
J ames redeemed, regenerated, disenthralled, the moment 
he touched the soil of America, between the thirty- 
fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude ; and 
he at once became entitled to all the rio-hts of citizen- 
ship — one hundred and fifty years before the decree 
of Lord Mansfield struck off' the chains and fetters 
from the African in England. This ordinance also 
established the right of the people to self-government, 
subject only to the paramount authority of the Crown 
and Laws of England. 

These solemn formalities, unknown to any other of 
the early colonies, counselled by the Lord Chief- 
Justice of England, whose brother, as President of the 
infant commonwealth, planted on these shores the em- 
blems of the authority of his nation, — proclaimed in no 
doubtful accents to all other nations, that here, the title 

* Bee Poor's Viadicatiou of Gorges, Appendix, for this constituent Code of Laws . 
of Kiug Jiimes. 



96 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of England was established. That pledge of the pro- 
tection of his government, which every Englishman has 
always felt when he planted his foot on any portion of 
the empire of his sovereign, gave strength and courage 
to this colony, — and when the humble settlers of Ply- 
mouth, thirteen years later, impressed with their feet 
the sandy shores of Cape Cod, the claim of England to 
the country had been vindicated and established, against 
the asserted claims of both Spain and France. 

The power of England remained undisturbed west 
of Sagadahoc, and southward, till it was finally yielded 
on the third of September, 1783 — one hundred and 
seventy-six years from the time it was first planted — 
when all political connection with Great Britain was 
dissolved, on the conclusion of the Definitive Treaty 
of Peace. In announcing that fact. King George the 
Third said : "In thus admitting their separation from 
the Crown of these kingdoms, I have sacrificed every 
consideration of my own, to the wishes and opinions 
of my people. I make it my humble and earnest 
prayer to Almighty God, that Great Britain may not 
feel the evils which might result from so great a dis- 
memberment of the empire; and that America may 
be free from the calamities which have formerly 
proved, in the mother country, how essential monarchy 
is to the enjoyment of constitutional liberty. Religion, 
language, interest, afifectious may, and I hope will yet 
prove a bond of permanent union between the two 
countries. To this end neither attention nor dispo- 
sition on my part shall be wanting." 

Memorable words, for they admit the national error. 

But the repentance of the King had come too late. 
The loyal subjects of King James had })lanted on these 
shores the principles of civil and religious liberty, 
under his guidance and his express authority, and it 
was not in the power of King or Parliament, after one 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 97 

hundred and seventy-six years of tlie exercise of these 
rights, to reclaim them by force of arms. 

It was in defence of rights granted by King James 
that onr fathers took up arms, against the arbitrary en- 
actments of King George the Third and his Parlia- 
ment, under the lead of Sir George Grenville, then 
first Minister of the Crown. They defended a princi- 
ple since made universal in its application, in every 
part of the British Colonial Emj^ire. They claimed 
only their rights as loyal subjects of Great Britain. 

Our fathers charged the acts of oppression, com- 
mencing in 1763, and ending in the Revolution of 
1776, on the King, as the responsible head of the 
British government, but the exact truth still remains 
obscured, from want of public access, till a recent date, 
to the state paj^ers of that period. If the odium 
of these acts shall justly fall on the head of the Min- 
ister rather than on the King, to what an eminence of 
guilt did Sir George Grenville attain, and how differ- 
ent the award of future over cotemporary times and 
opinions, as to the claims to veneration of the two men 
of England most intimately associated with American 
affairs, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the father of English 
Colonization in America, a private citizen, — and Sir 
George Grenville, the highest officer of state, who 
inaugurated those measures that caused the final sepa 
ration of the thirteen North- American Colonies from 
the British Crown, — an event, under the circumstances 
in which it was achieved, every day seen to have been 
most disastrous to humanity and our race. 

The mind of each one present instinctively turns back 
to-day, over this long line of history, pausing to survey, 
in this broad sweep, the great epochs that mark its 
progress. It lingers longest in contemplating the 
initiatory steps that ' gave title and possession to the 



08 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

country, — and delights to loiter, here, around tliis clier- 
islied spot, and recall to present view tlie deeds of 
Gorges and Popliam, and tliose who assisted tliem to 
transport hither the Saxo-Norman race ; for that race, 
planted on this new continent, has favored and illus- 
trated every thing that tends to the advancement of 
freedom and humanity, whatever may have been its 
occasional errors. 

We have established our power as a people, developed 
the natural resources of our country, and demonstrated 
the ability of our government to resist foreign aggres- 
sion. One further duty remains — the vindication ^of its 
principles in reference to ourselves. Can a government, 
resting for its strength and support on the consent of the 
governed, so far maintain its power as to suppress in- 
suiTCction without weakening the safeguards to personal 
liberty ? Can popular elections till the highest offices 
of the state, and insure that strength and stability to 
the government, that can vindicate its power in times of 
domestic insurrection, or open rebellion, like that, now 
shaking it to its foundations ? 

Putting our trust in that power that alone can save us, 
invoking that arm that can alone be stretched forth for 
our deliverance, we bow our wills to the Divine teachino*. 

What though at this hour clouds and darkness hang 
like a thick pall over our country, and in the excess of 
our marvellous prosperity, we are called for a time to 
self-abasement and trial, the race shall survive all 
shocks of civil strife and of foreign invasion, and rise 
superior to both ; this free government emerge into the 
full strength and measure of its giant proportions ; and 
" the gorgeous ensign of the Eepublic,'' known and 
honored throughout the earth, shall once more float, 
full and free, as in former days, over a united and 
prosperous people. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 99 

At the conclusion of Mr. Poor's address, the ceremonies at 
the Fort were terminated with the benediction, pronounced by 
the Eev. Francis Norwood, Pastor of the Congregational 
Church in Phipsburg, within the limits of which town is the 
ancient province of Sabino. 



AT THE PAVILION 



The next division of the commemorative acts was assigned 
to the Tent. In the absence of the gentleman expected to pre- 
side at this commemoration, the President of the Historical 
Society, the fion. William Willis, was requested by the Execu- 
tive Committee to take this office for the remainder of the day. 
The Chief Marshal had appointed as his assistants, the follow- 
ing gentlemen : Elias Thomas, 2d., John M. Brown, and 
Henry Willis, Esquires, of Portland ; Samuel D. Bailey, John 
S. Elliot, David T. Stinson, and Henry W. Swanton, Esquires, 
of Bath ; Col. Daniel Elliot, of Brunswick ; Joseph McKeen, 
M. D., of Topsham ; and Nathaniel M. Whitmore, 2d., Esq., of 
Gardiner. 

With the aid of such of the number as were present, he 
organized and conducted the procession ; which, preceded by 
the band, was led to the large and commodiously arranged 
tent, erected at some distance westerly from the fort, on a 
smooth and grassy plain, whose surroundings presented the 
same features as were seen from the platform at the fort. The 
entrance and the platform for the speakers, meral:)ers of the 



100 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Historical Society, and invited guests, had been tastefully dec- 
orated, under the direction of Major C. W. King, with ever- 
greens and the flags of the two nations, whose histories were 
united in this commemorative festival. Seats for twenty-five 
hundred persons had been provided under the broad-spreading 
awning, which were rapidly occupied ; and a large number of 
persons in addition, while the doings of tlie occasion were con- 
tinued, remained standing as listeners to the various addresses, 
and the cheering strains of the music interspersed at intervals. 
A dinner of clam and fish chowder was supplied here for 
this vast assembly. 



ADDRESSES 



The audience was called to order ]:>y the Chief Marshal, 
when the President of the Day, after a few brief remarks l)car- 
ing on the event and its commemoration, announced the first 
sentiment in the following words : 

The \%th of August [0. S.^, 1607, — ever memorable as the clay that witnessed 
the consmnmation of the title of England to the New World, by the formal oc- 
cupation and possession of New England, under the Koyal Charter of April 10, 
1G06. 

In the absence of the gentleman whom it was hoped would 
respond to this sentiment, the President called upon the Right 
Rev. Bishop Burgess to address the assembly ; who, after a few 
introductory remarks connecting the sentiment proposed with 
the name of the chaplain of the colony, read the following 
paper : 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 101 

BISHOP burgess's ADDRESS. 

Mr. President : Wlio was Richard Seymour ? And why 
should he be remembered with honor ? 

The house of Seymour, the second among the English nobil- 
ity, first rose to eminence through the elevation of Queen 
Jane, the daughter of Sir John Seymour, the favorite wife of 
Henry the Eighth, and the mother of Edward the Sixth. Her 
brother. Sir Edward Seymour, became Earl of Hertford, and 
in the minority of liis nephew. King Edward, was created 
Duke of Somerset, and governed the realm as Lord Protector. 
He was twice married, and his second wife, Anne Stanhope, 
being a lady of high descent, it was made a part of his patent 
of nobility that his titles should first be inherited in the line 
of her children, and only in the event of the failure of that 
line, should pass to his children by his first wife, Catherine 
Fillol, and tlfeir descendants. Accordingly, the honors, — for- 
feited when •" the Good Duke," as the Protector was called, 
perished on the scaffold, —r being afterwards restored, passed 
down in the younger line, till it expired in Algernon, Duke of 
Somerset, in 1750 ; when they reverted to the elder line, in 
which they continue till this day. 

In the meantime, this elder branch had been seated, all 
along, at Berry Pomeroy, in Devonshire, a few miles from Tot- 
ness, from Dartmouth, and from the sea. The eldest son of 
the Protector, Sir Edward, a christian name which continued 
in the eldest sons for eight generations, died in 1593. His son, 
Sir Edward, the grandson of the Protector, was married in 
1576, and died in 1613, having had, according to one account, 
five sons ; according to another, three ; besides four daughters. 
The youngest son, according to both accounts, bore the name 
of Richard ; and this great-grandson of the Protector Som- 
erset, was, I suppose, the Richard Seymour who was the chap- 
lain of the Popham Colony. The case is sustained as follows : 



102 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

There is no other person of the name known in genealogical 
history. Among sixty-nine male descendants of the Protector, 
he is the only Richard. 

His age corresponds with the chronology of the occasion. 
His father having married in 1576, the youngest of three, or 
even of five sons, might well have been l)orn within ten years 
after, so as to have been, in 1607, a young clergyman just 
from the university. What more probable than that such a 
young man should be attracted by this noble adventure, as it 
happened to be in the hands of his immediate friends ? 

His residence corresponds with the locality of the enterprise. 
It was within fifteen or twenty miles of Plymouth, and amongst 
those gentlemen of Devonshire who chiefly formed the com- 
pany with whom this undertaking originated. Of the Plym- 
outh company, of 1620, his brother. Sir Edward Seymour, was 
one of the incorporated members. 

This brings us to the most decisive circumstances, which are 
not a little interesting in the light which they cast upon the 
history of the colony. At Partington, close by Berry Pome- 
roy, was then, and still is, the seat of the old family of 
Champernoun, which " came in with William the Conqueror." 
Francis Champernoun, who came to Maine as one of the coun- 
cillors under the patent of Gorges, and settled at Kittery, was 
the nephew of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Therefore, either 
Gorges himself, or his sister, or his sister-in-law, must have 
married a Champernoun. Gorges was Governor of Plymouth, 
and was the soul of these expeditions long after. 

The mother of Sir Walter Raleigh was also a Champernoun ; 
and as she was of course the mother also of his half-brother, 
the gallant Sir Humphrey Gilljcrt, it follows that his son, Ra- 
leigh Gilbert, the admiral of this expedition, was the grandson 
of a Champernoun, and had an affinity with Gorges through 
tliat family. 

Sir John Popham had several children, amongst whom was a 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 103 

daughter, Elizabeth, who was married to Sir Richard Cham- 
pcrnoim ; and thus there was affinity between the families of 
Gorges, Gilbert, and Popham, through the household at Dar- 
tington. 

Sir Edward Seymour, the father of Richard Seymour, was 
married, as has been said, in 1576, and his wife was Elizabeth, 
daughter of Sir Arthur Champernoun ; and thus the chain of 
relationship is complete between the families of Gorges, Ra- 
leigh, Gilbert, Popham, and Seymour. 

Richard Seymour, therefore, the son of Edward Seymour, 
was related to Gorges, the projector of the colony ; to Popham, 
its patron ; to Popham, its president ; and to Gilbert, its ad- 
miral, — all through the common link of the family of his 
mother. When they sought a chaplain, they found one in 
Richard Seymour ; and no other Richard Seymour is known 
except this relative of theirs. May we not regard the identity 
as, I will not say demonstrated, but fairly established, to the 
extent of a reasonable conviction ? 

The connection between the families of Seymour and Pop- 
ham ceased not with that^generation. Sir John Popham, 
though Wellington, in Somersetshire, was his birth-place and 
burial-place, purchased from the family of Darell, to which the 
grandmother of the Protector belonged, the seat of Littlecote, 
in Wiltshire, on the borders of Berkshire, and here resided his 
descendants. Sir Edward Seymour, grand-nephew of Richard 
Seymour, married Letitia Popham, daughter of Francis Pop- 
ham of Littlecote, and had a son named Popham Seymour ; 
and the next Sir Edward, his eldest son, married another Leti- 
tia, daughter of Sir Francis Popham, also of Littlecote. Tliis 
hereditary friendship accords with the association on this spot. 

But Richard Seymour has his honor, this day, not from his 
memorable descent, but from the place assigned him Ijy the 
Providence which presided over the destinies of tliis now 
Christian laud. He was not the first English clergyman who 



104 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

ever preached tlic Gospel or celebrated the Holy Communion 
in North America : that honor fell to Wolfall, in 1578, on the 
shores of Newfoundland or Labrador. He was not the first 
English clergyman in the United States ; for Hunt had already 
begun his pastoral office on the banks of the James. He was 
not even the first Christian teacher within the limits of Maine ; 
for L'Escarbot, a Huguenot, had instructed his French asso- 
ciates in 1604, on an island in the St. Croix. 

But Seymour was the first preacher of the Gospel in the 
English tongue, within the borders of New England, and of 
the free, loyal, and unrevoltcd jjortion of these United States. 
Had he inherited all the honors of his almost royal great- 
grandsire, they would have given him a ftir less noble place 
than this, in the history of mankind. 

The 3Ieniorij of Sir Fcrdinando Gorges, — the Father of English Colonization in 
America. 

As no response has been furnished to the committee in sea- 
son for the present publication, it has been thought desirable 
to append to this account of tlie commemoration, in the form 
of a supplement, Mr. Poor's " Vindication of Gorges ; " with 
its appendix, containing the charter of April 10, 1606 ; the 
Constituent Code of Laws pu])licly read at Sabino, August 19, 
1607 [0. S. ] ; the commission of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, as 
Governor of New England ; and many other rare documents ; 
many of which, from the English archives, have never before 
been printed. A nearer approach to historical completeness 
will be the result of this addition. This work of Mr. Poor is 
given in full, as recently issued from the press of Messrs. 
D. Appleton & Co., New Yoj-k. 

Sir John Fopham, — the able, learned, and upright Chief Justice of England, by 
the appointment of Elizabeth; under the shadow of whose great name was laid 
the foundation of the Colossal Empire of the Western World. 

The response to this sentiment, expected in a communica- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 105 

tion from a distinguished gentleman, unable to l)e present, has 
not been received in season for publication. 

Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, — patron of Letters and of American 
Colonization ; the friend and associate of Sir Ferdinando Gorges ; whose joint 
labors procured the Royal Charter of April 10, 1606 ; the basis on which rests 
the title of our race to the New World. 

In reply to the invitation of the committee, the following 
letter was received from the Hon. Edward Everett : 

MR. Everett's letter. 

Boston, 18th August, 1862. 

Sir : — I have received your letter of the lltli, containing 
the invitation of the Executive Committee, to attend the His- 
torical Celebration at Fort Popham on the 29th instant. 

H it had been in my power to attend the celebration, I should 
have had much pleasure in responding to the toast enclosed in 
your letter, in honor of the Earl of Southampton. His serv- 
ices in obtaining the Eoyal Charter of 1606 are a just title to 
remembrance in America. That Shakspeare, — " the greatest 
name," says Hallam, " in all literature," — inscribed to him 
" the first heir of his invention," and, in the preface to his sec- 
ond poem, says, " The love I dedicate to your Lordship is with- 
out end," is a distinction enjoyed by the Earl of Southampton 
alone of the sons of men. 

Regretting that it is not in my power to attend the celebra- 
tion, and with the best wishes for its success, I remain. 

Sir, very respectfully yours, 

Edward Everett. 
To Rev. Edward Ballard, 

Secretary of the Executive Committee. 

The Mcnwri/ of George l'oi)ham, •— \Yho led hitlier the first English Colony ; be- 



106 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

came the head of its government by the election of his companions, and left his 
bones to mingle with the soil of New England, upon the Teninsula of Sabino. 

The following communication, from tlic venerable Rev. Wm. 
Allen, D. D., of Northampton, Mass., formerly President of 
Bowdoin College, is here introduced : 

PRESIDENT Allen's letter. 

Northampton, Mass., August 26, 1862. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, ^c. 

Dear Sir : — I give my thanks to the Executive Committee 
for inviting me to attend, on the 29th, the proposed celebration 
of the 255th anniversary of the founding of Popham's Colony, 
at the mouth of the Sagadahoc River, the fifst English colony 
on the shores of New England. Most gladly should I meet 
with them on the western bank of that river, did God in his 
providence permit ; but my ill health, now of four years' con- 
tinuance, forbids the thought of such a journey, and scarcely 
allows me to make a reply with my pen, as you request. If 
any have judged that I should l^e likely to take a great inter- 
est in an occasion which so especially relates to the early his- 
tory of Maine, they have judged rightly ; for more than forty 
years ago I found myself an associate of many worthy and 
learned men, the very first members of the Maine Historical 
Society, and co-operated in their labors. Moreover, my atten- 
tion had been previously long given to the history of the first 
settlements of our country, so that I am somewhat of an anti- 
quarian' in my pursuits, as you may well deem me to be in 
years, when I say, that I was already a graduate of old Har- 
vard, when the first class sat down, sixty years ago, to their 
studies at beloved Bowdoin, the first college established in the 
State of Maine. With this college, during its existence of 
sixty years, it was my lot to be connected, during about one- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 107 

third of that time, beginning with 1820, involving, in that 
period of nearly twenty years, great and interesting memories. 

How can I forget that I became a citizen of Maine in the 
very year, 1820, in which Maine became one of the States of 
the American Union, now threatened by the most atrocious re- 
bellion which ever sprung up in this world, — a rebellion that 
the vigorous, noble, patriotic sons of Maine are helping to put 
down, and which, in God's goodness, they will be sure to sec 
crushed, when He shall please to give triumph to the right. 
How can I forget those whom I knew as the fii*st governors of 
Maine, — King, Parris, Lincoln, Huntoon, Smith, Dunlap, and 
Fairfield, with many other of its leading men, the friends of 
the college ? 

How can I forget the beautiful village of Brunswick, the site 
of the college, on the banks of the Aumcmghcavjgcn (or Am- 
eriscoggin, or Androscoggin), one of the great rivers of Maine; 
or ever lose the recollection, that in its cemetery there sleep 
two of the forms most dear to me among the forms of the 
earth ? 

How can I forget my co-laborers in beloved Bowdoin nearly 
twenty years ; namely, Cleaveland, Newman, Upham, Pack- 
ard, and Smyth ? And how can I overlook, without ingrati- 
tude to God, the conseqiiences of our labors during the short 
period referred to, — results to spring up from a college, which 
the colonists at Sagadahoc would not be likely to imagine was 
destined to be planted, in the course of time, in the wilderness, 
on the banks of one of the great branches of the Sagadahoc, 
near Merry-Meeting Bay, and not twenty miles distant from 
Popham's Fort ? 

Those results of twenty years' labor arc these, — the educa- 
tion of more than five hundred young men, many of Avliom 
have been lights in a multitude of our States, learned profes- 
sors and teachers of various sciences in colleges scattered over 
our Union, and i)residents of colleges ; members of the House 



108 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of Representatives and of the Senate of the United States ; 
judges of courts ; governors of different States, and one, John 
Brown Russwurm, a colored man, the governor of a free State 
in Africa ; one the President of our whole country ; one, Cyrus 
Hamlin, long a missionary in Turkey, now founding a college 
in the Mohammedan city of Constantinople ; and about one 
hundred and fifty ministers of the gospel, of different denomi- 
nations ; some of whom are eminent preachers of the truth in 
our great cities, and all of them teachers of the way of salva- 
tion to their fellow-men, and examples of the Christian virtues, 
as was the solitary preacher of New England, Rev. Richaed 
Seymour, the chaplain at Sagadahoc in 1607 and 1608. This 
Mr. Seymour, of the English Episcopal Church, preached the 
first sermon ever preached on " the main " of New England, 
August 19, 1607. [0. S.], when the colony was planted, al- 
though he had preached on Sunday, the 9th, a sermon to a 
part of the company on the shore of St. George's Island, twenty 
miles to the east. 

It appears to me certain, beyond a doubt, that the river, at 
the mouth of which was Popham's Colony, Avas called by the 
early voyagers and most eminent writers, the river Sagada- 
hoc ; and it seems to me equally certain, that the colony was 
planted on the ivest side of the river, and not on Clark's Is- 
land, on the east side. The proof is as follows : 

1. The very important and decisive " Account of the North- 
ern Colonie, seated upon the river of Sachadehoc, by William 
Strachey," who was Secretary of the Virginia Colony about 
1610 : it was first published in this country in the first volume, 
fourth series, of the Massachusetts Historical Collections, 1852, 
edited by Rev. William S. Bartlett, Episcopal minister of Chel- 
sea. This writer says : " They went early in the morning from 
their ship into the river Sachadehoc^ to view the river, and to 
search where they might find a fitt place for their i)lantation." 
Again, he says : " They all went ashore, and there made choice 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 109 

of a place for their plantation, at the mouth or entry of the 
river on the ivest side (for the river bendeth itself towards the 
northeast and by east), being almost an island of a good big- 
ness, being in a pro^'ince called by the Indians, Sabino, so 
called of a Sagamo or chief commander under the gi*and bas- 
saba." This was August 18th [0. S.]. The next day, Aug. 
19th, was the day of planting the colony. He says also, that 
Seiotember 23, " Captain Gilbert, accompanied with nineteen 
others, departed in his shallop to goe for the head of the river 
of Sachadehoc.^^ 

2. Captain John Smith, who was conversant with the coast 
of Maine immediately after this colony began, speaks of the 
" plantation of Sagadahoc by those noble captains, George Pop- 
ham," <fcc. He mentions the rivers " Sagadahoc, Aumaghcaw- 
gen, and Kenabeca." 

3. Prince, in his Annals, says, " that Popham and his com- 
pany settled at the mouth of the Sagadehock." Dr. Belknap 
says that the colonists landed " at the mouth of Sagadahoc, 
or Kennebec River, on a peninsula ; " of course, it was on the 
west side and not on the east side, and on an island. It does 
nOb appear that Belknap had any authorify for assigning to the 
river, at the site of the colony, the name of Kennebec. 

William Hubbard, indeed, in his History of New England, 
written about 1680, speaks obscurely of " a siDacious river called 
Kennebec," and of " a place somewhere about the mouth 
whereof was then, and is still called Sagadahoc,'' where the 
colony was landed. But his ignorance in this matter is obvi- 
ous from his own words, and he can be of no authority. He 
could never have seen Strachey's decisive statement. Governor 
Sullivan, who wrote in the Massachusetts Historical Collection 
in 1792, a " DescrijDtien of Georgetown," — a paper referred 
to by Dr. Holmes in his Annals, places the colony on Parker's 
Island ; but he gives no authority for his judgment. 

If this matter, then, should be considered settled, I would 



110 MEMORIAL VOLUBIE. 

respectfully ask tlic commcmorators assembled on the 29tli of 
August, What has become of the great river Sagadahoc ? 
How came it to vanish from our maps and our geographies ? 
And will they not take into consideration the possibility of re- 
establishing the name of Sagadahoc as the name of the great 
river, at least as high up as twenty miles, to the junction at 
Merry-Meeting Bay, of the Kennebec from the north, and 
the Aumoughcawgen from the west ? 

Captain Smith, who made his map of New England in 1616, 
requested Prince Charles to change the Indian names of places 
and rivers on it at his pleasure. A few of the changes thus 
made are as follows : Smith had marked as places of note, Sag- 
adahoc, at the mouth of the river on the west side ; Aumough- 
cawgen, on the same side, twenty miles to the north ; and Ken- 
nebec, further north about thirty miles, on the west side also. 
These were changed by Prince Charles, the first to Leth (or 
Leitli), the second to Cambridge, as if by princely prediction, 
the beautiful site of Brunswick on the Androscoggin River 
would, in time, become to Maine, what Cambridge was to Eng- 
land, the chief seat of science. The third change is of Kenne- 
bec, near the preseni; site of Augusta, to Edenborough ; and 
these changes appear on the printed map. Sagadahoc River 
seems also to be changed to that of Forth, the name of a river 
in Scotland, where Prince Charles was born. 

As you shall stand at the mouth of the Sagadahoc River, I 
trust it will not be forgotten that you stand at the very spot, 
where, on the day of the meeting, two hundred and fifty-five 
years ago, at the laying of the foundation stone of the colony, 
the first sennon ever preached in New England was preached 
by their chaplain, Mr. Seymour, of the Episcopal Church ; in 
giving which gospel to the people of Maine, God has given them 
the richest treasure on the earth. It was at a later period of 
thirteen years, that the gospel was first preached at Plymouth, 
and a few years still later, by Thomas Hooker, at old Cam- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. Ill 

Iniclgc. Most earnestly did Hooker call upon his hearers, as 
they would be saved, to bow their pride before the truth and 
authority of God ; for in his view this was the great sin of 
man, " this pride of a man's spirit, of his mind, his reason, his 
will, and affections." If God's truth has come from heaven to 
earth, what greater guilt can there be than to deny it, and per- 
vert it, and withhold it from dark-minded men, to whom it 
may be in our power to impart it ? 

When visited at the fort by two canoes of Indians, Presi- 
dent Popham was careful to " carry them with him to the place 
of public prayer, where they were," on the first Sunday in Oc- 
tober, " at both morning and evening, attending with great 
reverence and silence." 

But I must close. An old and dying man must bid you fare- 
well. The mighty God, who created the sim, moon, and stars, 
and who formed also this round earth ; who poured out from 
his hand the waters that fill the oceans and the channels of 
mighty rivers, making also the living treasures floating in them ; 
who framed the islands and cast up the huge rocks, and spread 
out and planted the fields and the forests of " the main ; " and 
who permits us, this day, instead of a feeble, disheartened col- 
ony, to see a large province, a wide-spread State, inhabited l)y 
a hardy race of well educated and virtuous men ; the God who 
has unfolded to us his scheme of mercy, through the death of 
his Son, this God, by his truth and spirit, prepare us all for the 
peace and joy and glory of an immortal associate abode in 
heaven. Yours, &c., 

William Allen. 

STaritime Adventure and Discover!/, — illustrated by the men of Bristol and the 
Severne ; whose Cabots and Gilberts i^ointed the way to the northern shores of 
the New World. The name of Raleigh Gilbert shall ever be honored for his 
fidehty in conducting to these shores the colony of Popham. 

• The Memory of Sieur de Champlain, — the fearless navigator and accomplished 
statesman ; the first to explore and designate these shores ; whose plans of em- 



112 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

pire, more vast and sagacious than any of his time, failed of success only 
through the short-sightedness of his sovereign, in allowing the Atlantic shores 
of New England to fall into the hands of his rivals, thereby changing the his- 
tory of the New World. 

The Hon. Thos. Darcy McGce, President of tlic Executive 
Council of Canada, addressed the assemblage, in response to 
this sentiment. He said : 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. THOMAS DARCY McQEE. ' 

I beg to assure you, Mr. President, and the gentlemen of the 
Maine Historical Society, who have done me the honor to in-, 
vite me here, that I feel it a very great privilege to bo a spec- 
tator and a participant in the instructive, retributive ceremonial 
of this day. This peninsula of Sabino must become, if it is not 
already, classic ground ; and this 29th of August, the true era 
of the estal)lishment of our language and race on this continent, 
one of the most cherished /as^i of the English-speaking people 
of North America. It is, on general grounds, an occasion 
hardly less interesting to the colonies still English, than to the 
citizens of Maine ; and therefore, I beg to repeat in your jDres- 
cnce, the gratification I feel in being allowed to join in the first, 
of what I trust will prove, but the first, of an interminable series 
of such celebrations. I would be very insensible. Sir, to the 
character in which I have been so cordially presented to this 
assembly, if I did not personally acknowledge it ; and I should 
be, I conceive, unworthy of the position I happen to occupy as 
a member of the Canadian government, if I did not feel still 
more the honor you have paid to Canada, in the remembrance 
you have made of her first Governor and Captain General, the 
Sieur de Champlain. That celebrated person was, in truth, 
not only in point of time, but in the comprehension of his views, 
the audacity of his projects, and the celebrity of his individual 
career, the first statesman of Canada ; and no* one pretending 



POPHAM CELEBEATION. 113 

to the character of a Canadian statesman could feel otherwise 
than honored and gratified, when Champlain's name is invoked, 
publicly or privately, in his presence. We have no fear that 
the reputation of our great Founder will not stand the severest 
test of historical research ; we have no fear that his true great- 
ness will dwindle by comparison with the rest of the Atlantic 
leaders — the chiefs of the renowned sea-chivalry, of whom we 
have already heard such eloquent mention. We Canadians 
ardently desire that he should be better known — be well known 
' — and, perhaps, you, Mr. President, will permit me to indicate 
Bome of the facts in the career, to point to some of the traits in 
the character, wdiich haloes for us, forever, the name and mem- 
ory of the Sieur do Champlain. 

What we esteem most of all features in the life of our 
Founder, is that chief virtue of all emment men — his indomit- 
able fortitude ; and next to that we revere the amazing versa- 
tility and resources of the man. Originally a naval officer, he 
had voyaged to the West Indies and to Mexico, and had written 
a memoir, lately discovered at Dieppe, and edited both in France 
and England, advocating among other things the artificial 
connection of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. From the quar- 
ter deck we trace him to the counting rooms of the merchants 
of Rouen and Saint Malo, who first intrusted him in 1603, 
with the command of a commercial enterprise, of which Canada 
was the field. From the service of the merchants of Eouen, 
Dieppe, and Saint Malo, we trace him to the service of his 
Sovereign — Henry IV. For several successive years we find 
his flag glancing at all points along this rock-bound coast, on • 
which we are now assembled, from Port Royal to Massachusetts 
Bay. Whenever we do not find it here, we may be certain it 
has advanced into the interior, that it is unfurled at Quebec, 
at Montreal, or towards the sources of the Hudson and the 
Mohawk. We will find that this versatile sailor has become in 
time a founder of cities, a negotiator of treaties with barbarous 



114 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

tribes, an author, a legislator, a discoverer. As a discoverer, 
he was the first European to ascend the Richelieu, which he 
named after the patron of his latter years — the all-powerful 
Cardinal. He was the first to traverse that beautiful lake, now 
altogether your own, which makes his name so familiar to all 
Americans ; he was the first to ascend our great central river, 
the Ottawa, as far north as lake Nippising, and he was the first 
to discover what he very justly calls " the fresh-water sea " — 
of Lake Ontario. His place as an American discoverer is, 
therefore, among the first ; while his claims as a colonizer rest 
on the firm foundations of Montreal and Quebec ; and his proj- 
ect — extraordinary for the age — of uniting the Atlantic and 
Pacific by artificial channels of communication. As a legisla- 
tor, we have not yet recovered, if we ever shall, the ordinances 
he is known to have promulgated ; but as an author we have 
his narrative of transactions in New France, his voyage to 
Mexico, his treatise on navigation and some other papers. As 
a diplomat, we have the Franco-Indiarf alliances, which he 
founded, and which lasted a hundred and fifty years on this 
continent, and which exercised so powerful an influence, not 
only on American, but on European affairs. To him also it 
was mainly owing that Canada, Acadia, and Cape Breton were 
reclaimed by and restored to France, under the treaty of Saint 
German-en-Laye, in 1632. As to the moral qualities, our 
Founder was ))rave almost to rashness. He would cast himself 
with a single European follower in the midst of savage enemies, 
and more than once his life was endangered by the excess of 
his confidence and his courage. He was eminently social in 
his habits — as his order of " le bon temps " — in which every 
man of his associates was for one day host to all his comrades, 
and commanded in turn in those agreeable encounters, of which 
we have just had a slight skirmish here. He was sanguine as 
became an adventurer, and self-denying as became a hero. He 
served under De Monts, who for a time succeeded to his honors 



POPHAM CELEBKATION. 115 

and office, as cheerfully as he had ever acted for himself, and 
in the end he made a friend of his rival. He encountered, as 
Columbus, and many others had done, mutiny and assassina- 
tion in his own disaffected followers, but he triumphed over the 
bad passions of men as completely as* he triumphed over the 
ocean and the wilderness. 

He touched the extremes of human experience among di- 
verse characters and nations. At one time, he sketched plans 
of civilized aggrandisement for Henry IV. and Richelieu ; at 
another, he planned schemes of wild warfare with Huron chiefs 
and Algonquin braves. He united, in a most rare degree, the 
faculties of action and reflection, and, like all highly reflective 
minds, his thoughts long cherished in secret, ran often into the 
mould of maxims, and some of them would now form the fit- 
test possible inscriptions to engrave upon his monument. 

When the merchants of Quebec grumbled at the cost of for- 
tifying that place, he said — " It is best not to obey the pas- 
. sions of men ; they are but for a season ; it is our duty to re- 
gard the future." With all his love of good fellowship and 
society, he was, what seems to some inconsistent with it, sin- 
cerely and enthusiastically religious : among his maxims are 
these two, — that " the salvation of one soul is of more value 
than the conquest of an empire; " and, " that kings ought not 
to think of extending their authority over idolatrous nations, 
except for the purpose of subjecting them to Jesus Christ." 

Such, Mr. President, are, in brief, the attributes of the man 
you have chosen to honor, and I leave it for this company to 
say, whether, in all that constitutes true greatness, the first 
Governor and Captain General of Canada need fear compari- 
son with any of the illustrious brotherhood who projected and 
founded our North American States. Count over all their 
honored names ; enumerate their chief actions ; let each com- 
munity assign to its own his meed of eloquent and reverent 
remembrance ; but among them, from north to south, there 



116 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

will be no secondary place assigned to the Sieur de Champlain. 

Mr. President, your Excellency has added to the sentiment 
in honor of Champlain, an allusion and an inference as to the 
different results of the French and English colonial policy, on 
which you will prolmbly expect me to offer an observation or 
two before resuming my seat. Champlain's project originally 
was, no doubt, to make this Atlantic coast the basis of French 
power in the New World. His government claimed the conti- 
nent doAvn to the fortieth parallel, which, as you know, inter- 
sects Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois ; while the English 
claimed up to the forty-fifth, which intersects Nova Scotia and 
Canada. 

Within these five degrees of latitude the pretensions of 
France were long zealously maintained in diplomacy, but were 
never practically asserted, except in the forty-fourth and forty- 
fifth, by colonization. I am not prepared to dispute the infer- 
ence that the practical abandonment, by France, of the coast 
discoveries of her early navigators, south of forty-five, may 
have changed, as you say, " the destiny of the New World." 
It may be so ; it may be, also, that we have not reached the 
point of time in which to speak positively as to the permanent 
result ; for Divine Providence moves in His orbit by long and 
insensible curves, of which even the cleares1>sighted men can 
discern, in their time, but a very limited section. But we 
know, as of the past, that the Frencli power, in the reign of 
Louis XIII. and XIV., was practically based on the St. Law- 
rence, with a southern aspect, rather than on the Atlantic, with 
a western aspect. All the consequences of that great change of 
plan and policy, I am not prepared here so much as to allude 
to, for that would carry me where I have no wish to go, — into 
international issues not yet exhausted. 

I may be permitted, however, to question that French influ- 
ence, as developed in its Roman Catholic religion, its Roman 
law, and its historical fascinations, was ever really circumscribed 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 117 

to Canada, or was really extinguished, as has been usually as- 
sumed, by the fall of Quebeer. It is amazing to find in the 
colonial records of the period between the death of Champlain 
and the death of Montcalm, a century and a quarter, how 
important a part that handful of secluded French colonists 
played in North American affairs. In 1629, Champlain could 
have carried off all his colonists in "a single ship ; " more than 
a hundred years later they were estimated at some 65,000 
souls ; in the Seven Years war, they were, according to Mr. 
Bancroft, but as " one to fourteen " of the English colonists. 
The part played by the Canadians in war, under the French 
Kings, was out of all proportion to their numbers ; it was a 
glorious but prodigal part ; it left their country exposed to pe- 
riodical scarcity, without wealth, without commerce, without 
political liberty. They were ruled by a policy strictly martial 
to the very last, and though Kichelieu, Colbert, De la Gallis- 
sionere, and other supreme minds, saw, in their " New France," 
great commercial capabilities, the prevailing policy, especially 
under Louis XIV. and XV., was to make and keep Canada a 
mere military colony. It is instructive to find a man of such 
high intelligence as Montcalm, justifying that policy in his dis- 
patches to the President de Mole, on the very eve of the sur- 
render of Quebec. The Canadians, in his opinion, ought not 
be allowed to manufacture, lest they should become unman- 
ageable, like the English colonists ; but, on the contrary, they 
should be kept to martial exercises, that they might subserve 
the interests of France, in her transatlantic wars with England. 
Such was the policy which fell at Quebec with its last French 
Governor and Captain General ; and it is apolicy, I need hard- 
ly say, which no intelligent Canadian now looks back to with 
any other feelings than those of regret and disapprobation. A 
hundred years have elapsed since the international contest to 
which you refer, was consummated at Quebec, and Canada to- 
day, under the mild and equitable sway of her fourth English 



118 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

sovereign, has to point to trophies of peaceful progress, not less 
glorious, and far more serviceaMe, than any achieved by our 
predecessors who were subject to the French Kings. The 
French speaking population, which from 1608 till 1760, had 
not reached 100,000, from 1760 to 1860 has multiplied to 880,- 
000. Upi)er Canada, a wilderness as Champlain found it and 
Montcalm left it, has a population exceeding Massachusetts, of 
as fine a yeomanry as ever stirred the soil of the earth. If 
French Canada points w^ith justifiable pride to its ancient battle- 
field, English Canada points, with no less pleasure, to its newly 
reclaimed harvest fields ; if the old regime is typified by the 
strong walls of Quebec, the monument of the new era may be 
seen in the great bridge which spans the St. Lawrence, within 
view of the city I represent, and whose four and twenty piers 
may each stand for one hour, sacred to every traveler who 
steams through its sounding tube, on his way from the Atlantic 
to the far West. 

In conclusion, Mr. President, allow me again to assure you 
that I have listened with great pleasure to the speeches of this 
day, — especially to the address of my old and long esteemed 
friend (Hon. Mr. Poor). I trust the sentiments uttered here, 
at the mouth of the Kennebec, in Maine, will go home to Eng- 
land, and show our English relatives that the American people, 
unmoved by any selfish motive, are capable of doing full and 
entire justice to the best qualities of the English character. I 
am sure nothing was farther from your minds than to turn this 
historical commemoration to any political account, — and cer- 
tainly I could not have done myself the pleasure of being here, 
if I had imagined any such intention ; — but after all the angry 
taunts which have been lately exchanged between England and 
America, I cannot but think this solemn acknowledgment of 
national aifiliation, made on so memorable a spot as Fort Poi> 
ham, and made in so cordial a spirit, must have a healing and 
happy effect. We have been sitting under your authority, Mr. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 119 

President, in the High Court of Posterity, — we have sum- 
moned our ancestors from their ancient graves, — we have 
dealt out praise and blame among them, — I trust without 
violence to truth or injustice to the dead : for the dead have 
their rights as the living have : injustice to them is one of the 
worst forms of all injustice, — and undue praise to the unde- 
serving is the worst injustice to the virtuous and meritorious 
actors in the great events of former ages. 

When we leave this place, we shall descend from the medi- 
tative world of the past to mingle in the active world of the 
present, where each man must bear his part and defend his 
post. Let me say for myself, Mr. President, and I think I may 
add I speak in this respect, the general, settled sentiment of 
my countrymen of Canada, when I say, that in the extraordi- 
nary circumstances which have arisen for you, and for us also, 
in North America, there is no other feeling in Canada, than a 
feelmg of deep and sincere sympathy and friendliness towards 
the United States. As men loyal to our own institutions, we 
honor loyalty everywhere ; as freemen, we are interested in all 
free States ; as neighbors, we are especially interested in your 
peace, prosperity, and welfare. "We are all anxious to exchange 
everything with you, except injustice and misrepresentation : 
that is a species of commerce, which, — even when followed 
by the fourth estate (pointing to the reporters at his right), — I 
trust we will alike discourage, even to the verge of prohibition. 
Not only as a Canadian, but as one who was originally an emi- 
grant to these shores as an Irishman, with so many of my 
original countrymen resident among you, I shall never cease 
to pray that this kindred people may always find in the future, 
as they always have found in the past, brave men to lead them 
in battle, wise men to guide them in council, and eloquent men, 
like my honorable friend yonder (Hon. John A. Poor), to cel- 
ebrate their exploits and their wisdom from generation to 
generation. 



120 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Pierre clu Gas, Seigneur De Monts, — the Patentee of the first charter of Henry 
of Navarre, who sacrificed empire and fortune rather than his religious faith, 
and beheld the fairest portion of the continent, which he had apparently se- 
cured to his nation, pass into the hands of his rivals. 

The following communication has been furnished by the 
Rev. A. D. Wheeler, D. D., of Topsham, Maine; and is given 
as a response to the foregoing sentiment. 

THE REV. DR. WHEELER'S COMMUNICATION. 

The old Province of Saintonge, the Santones and Santoni of 
classic history, having no more reference to the calendar of 
saints than these ancient Latin designations from which it is 
obviously derived, was situated upon the estuary of the 
Gironde, which opens, about midway of the poast, into the Bay 
of Biscay ; and comprised, according to the more recent divis- 
ions of the empire, what is now known as the Department of 
Charante Inferieure. Here lived and flourished the subject of 
the sentiment to which these remarks are a response. 

PIERKE DU GUASTj SIEUR DE MONTS. 

By his natural abilities, his extensive information, his energy 
and integrity of character, and the favor of his sovereign, he 
became Governor of Pons, a small town of a few thousand 
inhabitants, situated in the interior of the province, on the left 
bank of the river, Seugne or Scvine ; and likewise was made 
gentleman in ordinary of the royal bed-chamber. But his 
active disposition would not allow him to remain contentedly 
at home, or within the sphere of official duties already required 
of him ; and he sought a wider field of enterprise than could 
be found even within the limits of France. He was desirous 
of obtaining distinction upon the sea as well as the land ; and, 
actuated by the sjjirit of exploration and discovery that distin- 
guished his times, he made three diiferent voyages in three 



POPHAM CELEBKATION. 121 

successive years, commencing in 1599, to the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, the river of the same name, the country of Acadia, and 
tlie regions around. For tliese reasons, among others, he was 
regarded as tlie proper person to be entrusted with an enter- 
prise of a more important kind. 

The merchants of Rouen had formed an association, com- 
prising many persons of distinction and Ubcral means, for the 
purpose of conducting their operations in the northern part of 
these regions. The president of this company, and the person 
who had taken the most active part in its organization, — 
Le Coinmandeur De Cliatte,— r liad died. Do Monts was ah-eady . 
in possession, tlirougii a grant from Henry IV., of tlie exclu- 
sive privilege of trading with the natives for skins and furs be- 
tween the fortieth and fifty-fourth degrees of north latitude, 
and of the right to dispose of lands as far as the forty-sixtli ; 
and, in addition to these, of Letters Patent, conferring upon 
him the offices of Vice-Admiral and Lieutentant-General in all 
this extent of country. In view of all these facts, and of the 
advantages which the company might very naturally expect to 
derive from one, who held such a position, enjoyed such privil- 
eges, and had already acquired so much experience in affairs 
of this nature, and so extensive an acquaintance with this re- 
gion of country, it was almost a matter of course that he 
should have been the only person thought of to fill the vacancy 
occasioned by the death of De Chatte. 

About ten years previous to this event, Henry lY. had al> 
jured. Protestantism and become a zealous Catholic. De Monts 
was a Huguenot, or French Calvinist, and still adhered to his 
opinions, notwithstanding the change in those of the king. 
The latter, in consideration of his acknowledged integrity and 
devotion to the interests of his country, for himself and his 
associates who adhered to the same form of faith, permitted 
them to enjoy the exercise of their religion in America, the 
same as they had done in France. In return for this conces- 



122 ^ MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

sion, De Monts engaged, on his part, to colonize the country, 
and to establish in it the Catholic religion among the savages. 

The French historian, De Charlevoix, of the company of 
Jesus, appends to the foregoing statement, the remark, that 
in other respects he was a very honest man, whose views were 
right, and who had zeal for the State, and all the capacity nec- 
essary to enable him to succeed in the enterprise with which 
he was charged, ("I'etoit d' ailleurs un fort honete homme," 
etc.) He may have referred exclusively to his Calvinism ; or, 
he may have intended to intimate that a person who believed 
in one kind of religion, and laljored to establish another, could 
hardly be honest ; or, at all events, consistent in that one par- 
ticular. But De Monts ought not to be judged too severely, 
in a matter of this kind. Doubtless he had reasons sufficient 
to satisfy his own conscience, at least. Men are often com- 
pelled to make a choice between evils, and perhaps this was a 
case in which he felt constrained to do the same. He was ca- 
pable and trustworthy, and disposed to do for the interests of 
the company the best that he was able. But he was unfortu- 
nate, and almost always badly served. His exclusive jDrivil- 
eges for the traffic in peltry, had excited against him men of 
an envious disposition, who endeavored to accomplish his ruin. 
He had preserved the company which had been formed by his 
predecessor, and had enlarged it by the addition of many mer- 
chants, from the principal ports of France, and especially that 
of Rochelle. Sucli a union of forces had placed him in a con- 
dition to prepare an out-fit more considerable than had been 
done by any of those whom he had succeeded. He made 
these preparations partly at Dieppe and partly at Havre-de- 
Gracc. 

An expedition, consisting of four vessels, was planned and 
got in readiness. One of these was destined to Tadoussac, at 
the confluence of the rivers Sagucnay and St. Lawrence, for 
the purpose of trading in peltry. Fontgravd received orders 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 123 

to conduct the second to the Straits of Canseau, between* Aca- 
dia and the Isle Royale, and the channel which separated it 
from the island of St. John, for the purpose of conveying 
thither those persons who were desirous of carrying on a trade 
with the natives, to the prejudice of tlie rights of De Monts, 
who proceeded with the other vessels to the coast of Acadia. 
He was accompanied by many volunteers, among whom were 
the Sieur de Champlain, who belonged to the same district 
with his commander, the province of Saintonge, and whose 
name has become permanently associated with the beautiful 
lake, whose waters wash Ifce opposite shores of New York and 
Vermont ; and Jean de Biencourt, Sieur de Poutrincourt, whom 
he had made his lieutenant in the expedition. 

It was on the seventh of March, in the year 1604, that De 
Monts set sail from the harbor of Havre de Grace ; and it was 
on the sixth of May, just two months after, that he entered a 
port of Acadia. Here he fell in with a vessel, which, in spite 
of the prohibitions of his patent, had been engaged in traffic 
along the coast. He confiscated it in virtue of his exclusive 
privilege. He called the harbor, however. Port Rossignol, from 
the name of the captain of the confiscated vessel, as if by thus 
immortalizing his name, he desired to make some compensation 
to him for the loss which he had sustained. After leaving this 
port, he soon entered another, which he called Port-au-Mouton, 
because a sheep had there leaped overboard and been drowned. 
At this place he landed all his people, provided them with tents, 
and remained there for more than a month, while Champlain, 
in a shallop, sailed along the coast in search of a place suitable 
for a permanent establishment. Tliere was no necessity of his 
going so far for this purpose, or even of his coming to the place 
where he then was ; for he had passed by, without deigning to 
enter them, two of the best harbors of Acadia, and the two, 
best situated for commercial objects, Canseau and La Halve ; 
and there were many others which would have served his pur- 



124 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

pose nearly as well. But he kept on his course until he ar- 
rived at a small island, a few miles helow Calais, where De 
Monts, arriving a short time after him, resolved to make a set- 
tlement. He gave to it the name of the " Isle of St. Croix," 
and as it was but half a league in circumference, it was very 
soon wholly cleared up. They built there a number of houses 
sufficient for their use, and sowed some grain which yielded 
them an abundant return. 

But they had made a bad choice. When the winter came 
they found themselves destitute both of fresh water and wood ; 
and as they were soon reduced to %ie necessity of living on 
salted meats, and as many of them, to save themselves from 
the trouble of going in search of water to the main land, had 
recourse to melted snow for their ordinary drink, the scurvy 
made its appearance in the new colony, and committed great 
ravages. Thus as soon as the navigation was open, De Monts 
found nothing more urgent than to seek a place having greater 
advantages. He took his course, at first, towards the south, 
ranged along the coast, which extends east and west, for the 
space of eighty leagues, from the river St. John as far as the 
" Kinibegui," or Kennebec ; then north and south, to a point 
which Champlain, who, during the winter had occupied him- 
self in making explorations in this direction, had named " Mal- 
lebarre," because his bark had run great risk of getting aground 
upon the sand. He had also taken possession of it in the name 
of the king, as well as of Cape Cod, at the opposite extremity 
of the peninsula. 

In the end, De Monts having been unable, in so long a coast- 
ing voyage, to determine upon any place for establishing a col- 
ony, returned to St. Croix, where Pontgrav^ soon came to join 
him on arriving from France. They found the settlement in 
a very bad condition, and De Monts, convinced that it would 
be necessary to change the location, resolved to return to Aca- 
dia. Accordingly he embarked with Pontgrave, and, shaping 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 125 

» 

his course in that direction, entered the harbor of Port Royal. 
He found the jDlace so much to his mind, that he at once formed 
the resolution of transporting his colony to it, gave the busi- 
ness in charge to Pontgrav^, and authorized him to act in his 
stead during his expected absence. 

Port Royal, which owes its name to De Monts, had Init one 
serious defect, and that was the difficulty of entering it and 
departing from it, to which may be added the inconvenience of 
frequent and dense fogs. But one vessel was able to enter at 
a time, and it was necessary that this one vessel should enter 
stern foremost, and with very great precautions, such was the 
force of the currents and the sea. In other respects it was re- 
garded by De Monts as one of the finest ports in the world. 
The Sieur de Pontgrav^, however, did not perfectly coincide 
in opinion respecting it with De Monts, for the advantages of 
the location did not appear to him sufficient to counterbalance 
the inconveniences. Biit De Poutrincourt thought differently; 
and, as, an associate with De Monts, he had formed the design 
of establisliing himself in America with his family, he de- 
manded of him this port, and had no difficulty in obtaining it. 

As the autumn approached, De Monts concluded to return 
once more to France. Upon his arrival at court he found the 
condition of things in regard to himself very much changed. 
The fishermen, at all the ports of the kingdom, had made rep- 
resentations to the king, that under the pretext of preventing 
them from trading with the natives of the country, they had 
/been deprived of things the most necessary to their business, 
and that they would be obliged to abandon it altogether, if 
these vexatious proceedings were allowed to go on. These 
representations were listened to ; the council comprehended 
the injury which would result to commerce from the interrup- 
tion of the fisheries ; and the " exclusive privilege " of De 
Monts, which, according to the terms of the patent had still 
two years longer to run, was revoked. 



126 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Still, under all these discouragements, he did not lose all con- 
fidence in the success of his undertaking. He entered iiito a 
new agreement with De Poutrincourt, who had followed him to 
France, and caused a vessel to be fitted out for him at Rochelle, 
which sailed on the 3d of May, 1606. The voyage was a long 
one, and the inhabitants of Port Royal, not wholly without 
reason, had begun to think that they had been abandoned. 
Pontgrav^ had neglected nothing within his power in order to 
reassure them ; but at last, when they were absolutely in want 
of everything, he was constrained to embark with all his peo- 
ple, leaving only two men in the fort to guard the effects which 
they were unable to carry away ; and to shape his course for 
France. He was scarcely out of sight of the Bay of Fundy, 
or " Baye Francoise," as it was then called, when he learned, 
from a bark which he had spoken, the arrival of Poutrincourt 
at Canseau. Immediately on the receipt of this intelligence, 
he turned back and re-entered the harbor of Port Royal, where 
Poutrincourt had already arrived with abundant supplies for the 
colony, and without having been discovered on the passage. 
The only thought now was to fortify the place, and to make 
provision against all future contingencies. 

As long as Port Royal was prosperous, and afforded such 
good hopes, the enemies of De Monts exerted their utmost 
efforts to ruin him in France ; and at length succeeded in 
causing his commission to be taken from him. As an indem- 
nification for all his expenses and losses, he was promised the 
sum of six thousand livres, — dependent, however, upon the 
successful result of certain vessels, to be sent to America for 
the purpose of trading fOr peltry. But this in fact amounted 
to nothing, since the cost of collecting this money "v^^ould have 
exceeded the amount of the compensation. 

His prospects, however, appeared to be a little brighter the 
following year, when he succeeded in regaining the privilege 
of which he had been deprived, but for one year only, and on 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 127 

the condition that he should make an establishment npon the 
rive'r St. Lawrence. The company, with which he had been 
associated, and over which lie presided, did not abandon him 
in his misfortunes ; but he soon ascertained that his connec- 
tion with it was an injury rather than a benefit, and he, there- 
fore, withdrew from it entirely ; and, after two years of troul)le 
and anxiety, and continual disappointments, he disposed of all 
his rights under the grants which he had received from the 
king, and thus parted with all his interest in enterprises to 
which he had been so long devoted, and which he had hoped 
would redound to his own advantage, and the glory of France. 
Not long after this surrender he died, a victim to the mor- 
tification of seeing his patent revoked by the royal mandate at 
the instance of his enemies. 

As one of the pioneers of New England colonization, and as 
one w;ho made the first settlement (at St. Croix) within the 
present limits of Maine, he . is worthy of commemoration in 
the proceedings of this day. 

Note. — For the foregoing facts given in relation to De Monts, consult, 
mainly, Charlevoix, " Histoire de la Nouvelle France;" and also "L'Histoire 
des Colonies Francoises, par Chrestien Le Clercq ; " Haliburton's Nova Scotia ; 
and Holnaes's Annals of America. 

George Weymouth, — the early explorer of the coast of New England ; memora- 
ble for his description of our own coast, and his exploration of " the most excel- 
lent and beneficyall river of Sachadehoc." 

In the absence of the expected speech in connection with this 
sentiment, remarks may be found in a subsequent portion of 
this volume. 

The Colonization of Manhattan — by the Hollanders ; whose tolerant spirit and 
commercial enterprise laid the foundation of the great metropolis of the New 
World. 

The following communication was received immediately 



128 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

after its date, from the Hon. John Romeyn Brodhcad of New 
York, as a response to this sentiment. 

MR. BRODHEAD's letter. 

New York, 8th September, 18C2.* 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretanj, 8fc. 

Sir : — On my return to town, a day or two ago, I received 
your letter of the 14th of August, inviting me, on behalf of 
" the Executive Committee," to attend the Historical Celebra- 
tion at Fort Popham on the 29th of that month. I beg you to 
communicate to the committee my thanks for their courtesy, 
as well as my great regret that absence from home prevented 
me from knowing, until too late, the proposed arrangements, 
and from enjoying the pleasure of assisting at an occasion of 
such national interest. 

Your letter also enclosed a sentiment, — " The colonization 
of Manhattan, by the Hollanders, ivliose tolerant spirit and com- 
mercial enterprise laid the foundation of the great metropolis of 
the new loorld^'' — and requested me to respond to it at the 
collation in the great tent. To none of the sentiments then 
proposed could I have spoken more heartily. Had I been able 
to be with you, I should probably have said something like 
wliat, at your further suggestion, I now write. 

New York certainly owes much of her present metropolitan 
greatness to her admirable geographical situation. Yet, I 
think, she owes quite as much to the magnanimous principles 
of the Hollanders who discovered and first occupied Manhat- 
tan and its neighboring coasts. When Jamestown was founded 
on the 13th of May, 1607, and George Popham read his com- 
mission at the mouth of the Sagadahoc or Kennebec on the 
19th of August following, — the two hundred and fifty-fifth 
anniversary of which event you have so pleasantly celebrated, — 
the territoiy of New York Avas known only to its aboriginal 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 129 

owners. Excepting Verazzano, no European had visited any 
part of the American coast between Buzzard's Bay and the 
Capes of the Chesapeake. This intermediate region, although 
claimed by England, was a vacant domicile, free to the first 
European explorer, when Henry Hudson in the " Half Moon" of 
Amsterdam anchored within Sandy Hook on the third of Sep- 
tember, 1609. That event was the birth of the Dutch State 
of New York. At that time Holland and the other Protestant 
Provinces of the Netherlands had just conquered their inde- 
pendence of Spain, and become a free republic, the corner- 
stone of which was toleration. Commercial enterprise had 
already placed the young nation in the van of the peoples of 
the earth. They had fought not less for freedom of their ships 
at sea than for freedom of thought and life on their low, sandy 
lands at home. But though the Dutch earnestly contended 
for their own civil and religious liberties, they were neither 
selfish nor bigoted. On the contrary, they were large-minded 
enough to mak,e their country an asylum for refugees from the 
oppression of other lands. 

The same autumn that Holland became the sovereign of 
New York by virtue of her discovery, English Puritans from 
Lincolnshire settled themselves quietly at Leyden, where, for 
eleven years, they were hospitably entertained, and where they 
enjoyed the opportunity of observing that growing national 
prosperity which was the legitimate result of the liberal relig- . 
ious and political principles of thcu^ Batavian hosts. At length, 
in December, 1620, some of those English refugees at Leyden 
landed at Plymouth Rock, and began the first permanent col- 
onization of New England, which Popham and his friends had 
unsuccessfully attempted thirteen years before. If the pioneer 
settlement at New Plymouth was distinguished from the later 
colony of Massachusetts Bay by more tolerant ideas in civil as 
well as religious affairs, it may be not unjustly inferred that 
some, at least, of that larger liberality was derived from the 

10 



130 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

lessons of Holland. Assuredly the notion of confederated 
States, which the New England colonies adopted in 1643, was 
borrowed from the United Netherlands. 

Meanwhile, the Dutch colonists at Manhattan and its neigh- 
borhood had been calmly practicing those liberal principles 
which they learned in their fatherland. Tlie Jesuit Father 
Jogues, sheltered by them from the barbarities of the Mohawks, 
found that eighteen different languages were spoken in the 
capital of the Dutch Province. There he met Protestant exiles 
from the persecutions of Massachusetts, Lutherans from Ger- 
many, Roman Catholics and Anabaptists, all actually enjoying, 
in an equal degree with the original Calvinistic settlers, the 
blessings of religious liberty. Without any poetical claim of 
seeking in America more " freedom to worship God " than 
they enjoyed in Holland, the colonists of Manhattan, wlio had 
early learned tliat commerce is the solvent of national antipa- 
thies, cordially welcomed all wlio came to find permanent 
homes among them ; and thus, with large and comprehensive 
spirit, they laid the foundation of the attractive metropolis of 
tlie New World. 

After the surrender of New Netherland to the English in 16G4, 
New York was governed for nearly twenty years as a province, 
hj tlie sole will of its proprietor, the Duke of York. As a point 
of special interest in the histories of two great States, I may 
here mention that one of the dependencies of New York was 
that part of Maine between the Saint Croix and the Saga- 
dahoc, commonly known as Pemaquid. This region was 
granted by Charles II. to his brother on the 12th of March, 
1664, in the same patent which conveyed the Dutch posses- 
sions. It was formed into a county by the name of " Corn- 
wall," and it remained under the jurisdiction of New York 
until 1687. But, while the supreme political power was in 
other hands, the influence of the original spirit of the Dutch 
settlers of Manliattan continued to make itself felt. In 1681, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 131 

the mercliants of New York refused to pay the customs duties 
which the Duke exacted, as they thought, arbitrarily and ille- 
gally. This led to a demand for an assembly of the people, 
to be chosen by the freeholders and inhabitants of the Province. 
The Duke yielded to the demand ; and in October, 1683, his 
Governor, Thomas Dongan, assented to a charter of liberties 
passed by the popular representatives of New York, which de- 
clared that " the people met in General Assembly " were to 
form a part of the supreme legislative authority. It also de- 
clared that no persons professing " faith in God by Jesus 
Christ," should be in any way molested for any diiference in 
religious opinion. The tolerant spirit of the Dutch was the 
parent of these conspicuous clauses. At the very time that 
this charter of New York was enacted » by the freely chosen 
representatives of its inhabitants, and was confirmed by its 
ducal proprietor, the charter wliich Charles the First had 
granted to the Corporation of Massachusetts was in process of 
abrogation by the judicial officers of Charles the Second. To 
most observers there would appear to be a strange inconsistency 
in these contemporaneous events. Yet I think the inconsis- 
tency is seeming rather than real. The Massachusetts charter 
did not grant a popular government. It established a corpo- 
rate oligarchy. The corporators, as soon as they possessed the 
power, deliberately excluded from participation in every politi- 
cal and almost every civil right, all the inhabitants except the 
members of their own Puritan churches. The people of Mas- 
sachusetts at large did not govern themselves. They were only 
the governed ; and they were governed, not by their common 
sovereign in England, but by their own neighbors and fellow- 
subjects, who derived their authority, not from a popular elec- 
tion, but from the vote of a close corporation, established by a 
king who had expiated his arbitrary acts by death on the scaf- 
fold. The government of Massachusetts, under its old charter, 
was intolerant, discriminating, and unjust. Charles the Second 



132 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

could see no good reason why self-chosen Puritan church mem- 
bers alone should tyrannize over the rest of the inhabitants of 
that colony. In the neighboring Province of New York, a 
charter of liberties had just been adopted, the two cardinal 
ideas of which were, toleration of religious opinion and the 
equal and indiscriminate participation of all its multifarious 
population in civil rights. The charter of Massachusetts, which 
allowed no share of political power to the people, was there- 
fore cancelled by the king, just as the charter of New York, 
which conferred a portion of the legislative authority " upon 
the people met in General Assembly," was signed and sealed 
by his brother, the Duke. 

I am admonished, however, not to pursue at greater length 
this train of remark which might easily be extended. The 
history of New York, throughout its whole course, exhibits 
constant evidence of the liberalizing influence of her Dutch 
founders. That influence, I sincerely believe, has always made 
her more truly Democratic than perhaps any of the older col- 
onies which formed the United States. It preserved her from 
that intolerant and obtrusive censoriousness which, without hes- 
itation, assumes the privilege to rudely intermeddle with what 
concerns it not. While their homely Dutch maxim, " mind 
YOUR OWN BUSINESS," restrained her people from interfering 
with the affairs of their neighbors, it taught them to tolerate 
no foreign dictation or inquisitorial inspection. Of this alone 
were Hollanders and their descendants intolerant. Surviving 
to the present hour, the liberality and conservatism which, at 
the same time, distinguished the pioneers of the " Empire 
State," have kept New York, for long generations, free from 
the "blight of fanaticism, and made her the grand monument 
of the magnanimous principles of her Batavian founders. 

I am, sir, with great regard, 

your obedient servant, 

John Romeyn Brodhead. 



POPHAM CELEBEATION. 138 

Captain John Smith, — the daring soldier and navigator ; whose efforts in acts of 
government in Virginia, and of naval skill in exploring and defining the bound- 
aries of New England, which he made known by maps and description, give his 
name a place among the great men of his time. 

The Ancient Dominions of Blaine, — Sabino, Sagadahoc, Sheepscot, Pemaquid, 
and Monhegan ; the theater of early maritime discovery and settlement ; the 
designed seat of empire of our colonial ancestors. 

Want of time prevented the response to this sentiment in- 
tended by Rufus K. Sewall, Esq., of Wiscasset. It, therefore, 
now appears as a communication. 

MR. SEWALL'S address. 

MAINE THE MOTHER OF NEW ENGLAND. 

Claims to precedence in the History of English Colmiization and European Commerce 
and Civilization in New England, exhibited in the developments and details of Euro- 
pean life upon the coasts of Maine, within the Ancient Dominions, 

ANCIENT DOMINIONS OF MAINE. 

The popular idea of the earliest knowledge of Maine, — the 
idea extant in the days of Cabot, — embodied in the nomen- 
clature of Europe, was Baccalaos,^ meaning the coasts of 
" cod-fish." 

The great feature of life in these waters, a source of wealth 
and commerce to the leading powers of Europe, in the signifi- 
cant and appropriate language of the visitors to this hyperbo- 
rean Florida, gave it this name. 

Succeeding ages, from more definite knowledge of the main- 
land, and interior and populous wilds, replaced the aboriginal 
name with that of the semi-mythical " Norumbega," — a series 
of aboriginal sounds caught from the lips of the native lords 
of the soil, portraying the outlines of the fame of an aboriginal 

1 Folsom's address. 2 vol. M. H. Soc. Sacalldo, in Spanish ; JBaealhdo, in 
Portuguese, denotes a species of cod-fish called " ling." 



134 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

empire within these unexplored wilds, — the Arambes of the 
geographers and voyagers of the reign of King Henry VIII. ; 
the Arambec of later explorers, signifying, " the place of 
men^'' ^ — a ruined capital of an extinct race. 

During the reign of Henry VIII., of England, Robert 
A. D. Thome, by eloquent descriptions of his father's voyages 
1527. and discoveries in Newfoundland, moved this sover- 
eign to dispatch two ships to these strange shores. 
One only escaped the perils of the ice-clad sea, by returning in 
more southern latitudes, along the coasts of " Arumbec, — 
Arambes, — or, as some call it, Norumbegua." John Rut, the 
chronicler of this voyage, reported to the king that the return- 
ing ship " found eleven sayle of Normans, one Briton, and 
two Portugal barks a fishing " there. 

" Sagadahoc," in order of time, in the visions of European 
enterprise, and speculations of State and Colonial adventure, 
appeared next, in the same latitudes, glowing in these western 
wilds, to absorb public interest and quicken desire, and guide 
the prow of the English voyager in his search for a new 
home. 

Gosnold, in this latitude, from the decks of the Con- 

A. D. cord, seeing "a land'^ full of fair trees, — the land 

1602. somewhat low, — certain hummocks or hills lying uito 

the land, and the shore full of white sand and very 

stoney," landed and called it " Mavooshen." ^ 

But Maine, at this early date, was comprised in the territory 
between the Kennebec and Penobscot waters, and was the cerb- 
ter of European interest and enterprise in the west, both in 
England and France ; and " Sagadahoc " soon eclipsed all 
other names, and gave paramount importance to a section of 
the coasts of North America, whose most remarkable land- 

1 Arunpeag, or Arumpik. Rev. E. Vetromile, S. J. — Piirchas, p. 9-U. 

2 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 55. 

3 About 43° N. L. Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 1. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 135 

marks, " Sutquin, ^ and four or Jive isles in the mouthy^ (in the 
description of Capt. John Smith,) indicated the entrance " by 
a fair navigable river, to the so goodly a country up the most 
excellent and beneficial river of Sagadahoc," on the west ; and 
" Monhegan, a round, high isle, and close by Monanis, betwixt 
which is a small harbor with Damarill's Isles, such another," 
and " mountains, them of Penobscot, together with the tink- 
ling mountains of Ac-a-cis-co," on the east. Within the terri- 
tory thus bounded and described in the early annals of colo- 
nial adventure, Monhegan, the province of Sabino, the aborig- 
inal " Sipsa-couta," ^ and Pemaquid, have become, in the 
Ancient Dominions of Maine, points of classic interest. 

Monhegan, signifying an island of the main, earliest appears 
in the panorama of the historic scene of English life and 
enterprise on New England shores. Pedro Menendez, Gover- 
nor of Florida, in dispatches forwarded by him to the Court 
of Spain, tells Philip II., " that in July of the year, the 
English were inhabiting an island in latitude 43°, eight A. D. 
leagues from land, where the Indians were very numer- 1586. 
ous." It was the story of " Carlos Morea, a Spaniard, 
who had learned the facts in London and communicated them 
to Menendez."^ There can hardly be a doubt that Monhegan 
island was the spot occupied by these English dwellers in the 
New World. Indeed, it was only in August, three years before, 
that near this spot, "* the largest sliip of Sir Humphrey Gilbert 
struck, and was wrecked on the voyage in which he was last 
seen in the stern sheets of the little Squirrel, book in hand, 
when her lights suddenly disappeared, and he was heard to 
cry, " we are as neere to Heaven by water as by land." 

1 Purchas Pilgrimage, p. 215. Smith's Voyages, 1614. 

2 Aliunde in French " Che-va-va-cotte." 

3 B. Smith, Hist. iMagazine, No. 9, Sept., 1859. 
i Bancroft, p. 91. 



136 MEMOKIAL VOLUME. 

Did shipwrecked mariners first found Engiisli homes on the 
islands in and near Sheepscot Bay ? ^ 

MONHEGAN. 

The earliest description of Monhegan is from the pen of 
Kosier, the historian of the voyage of the " Arch- Angel, under 

command of Commodore George Weymouth, who on 
A. D. Friday, during the evening twilight, the 17th of May,, 
1605. made land which loomed up in bold r^ief against the 

northern sky, as some high-land of the Maine." He 
cast anchor under its northern and land-ward slope, a league 
off shore, and with his boat's crew landing for wood and water 
in the heart of its overgrown forests, " discovered vestiges of 
human occupancy.''^ A cross was set up, and in accordance 
with the usage of British discoverers of that day, it doubtless 
bore affixed thereto the armorial bearings of the Crown of 
England, "a St. George Cross," graven on lead; and the 
island ^ was called St. George. 

PROVINCE OF SABINO. 

There can be no doubt that the original and local center of 
the Norumbega of historic fame, over whatever territory it 
may have subsequently expanded, embraced " Our Sagada- 
hoc " within its geographical limits, as the great center of colo- 
nial attraction, denoted by the remarkable land marks described 
by Captain Smith, — a river, the confluent of interior waters 
to the sea, upon whose margins was the territory of a river- 
king, known in aboriginal nomenclature, as " Sebenoa^^ 

The peninsula of his province, selected as the site of Pop- 
ham's town of St. George, was called " Sabino,^' which proba- 
bly is but an English abbreviation of Sebenoa, the aboriginal 
name of the " Lord of the river Sagadahoc." 

1 SuL, pp. 160-5. 

2 Palfrey's Mass. History,, p. 68. 

3 Colemporary with " Sasanow," if not the same chieftain. 



POPHAM CELEBEATION. 137 

In its native wildness, the peninsula of Sagadahoc must have 
been a spot of singular beauty. An open forest of mighty- 
towering pines below, and hill-tops of overgrown beach and 
oak above and on either side, fringed with a clear, broad grassy- 
margin terminating in a sand beach, sweeping from point to 
point on its landward and sheltered northern point, must have 
commended the place as a favorite camping ground to the sav- 
ages, as well as a site to the earliest English colonists of New 
England as a home. The indications arc decisive that this 
peninsula was ever a place of distinguished attraction to the 
natives. The vestiges of the occupancy of this peninsula by 
them are peculiar and remarkable. Here would seem to have 
been the seat of aboriginal workshops and artizans, — the man- 
ufactories of their weapons of war, — the arsenals of the sav- 
age hosts on the waters of the Kennebec, where arrow-heads, 
stone axes, and mauls, were blocked and hewn or broken into 
finished shape and fitness for war or the chase. The vestiges 
of stone-work, chips, fragments, remains of stone-wrought tools 
and weapons, distinguish this peninsula, and remain as the 
monuments of the skill and toil of artizans and a race de- 
parted. 

SAGADAHOC COLONY. 

The goodly report of commander Weymouth of the Arch- 
Angel's voyage, confirmed Gosnold's previous observations, 
stimulated the highest nobility of England, led by the Lord 
Chief Justice, Sir John Popham, to settle " a plantation on the 
river of Sagadahoc." 

Complex Elements of the Enterprise. — Sir John Popham 
operated in the west of England, and made the city of Bristol 
his center. From this city Ms colonial expeditions were fitted 
out.^ There seems to have been a concert of action in the 

1 Strachey, M. II. C, vol 3, p. 290. 



138 ' MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

movements at Bristol and London in the colonial adventures 
of the year 1606, contemplating a simultaneous occupancy 
of northern as well as southern Virginia, and also combining 
the interests of the east and west of England, centering in the 
cities of Bristol and London, with the design that each should 
be represented in the colonial enterprise at Sagadahoc. 

In May, 1606, Newport, with one hundred colonists sailed 
for the Chesapeak ; and under the supervision of Sir John 
Popham, a ship sailed from Bristol, under the command of 
Martin Prinn and Haines, for Sagadahoc. This expedition 
was captured by Spanish cruisers. Li June, the next year, Sir 
John Popham fitted out a ship called the " Gift of God," ^ in 
his department, placed his brother, George Popham, in com- 
mand ; and at London, the ship "Mary and John" was as- 
signed to the command of Raleigh Gilbert. These ships took 
out one hundred and twenty men for planters. Capt. George 
Popham represented the interests of Sir John and the west of 
England men in the city of Bristol,^ and was elected President 
of the colony in the Sagadahoc enterprise. Raleigh Gilbert 
held second rank, representing the interests of his lost uncle. 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who had sacrificed his life in his gallant 
endeavors to explore and colonize these shores, as well as 
the interests of the city of London, in the colonial adventure 
then on foot. These noble pioneers embarked for the 
A. D. coasts of Maine in June, under express instructions 
1607. to enter the Sagadahoc, and there ^ make their planta- 
tion with a view to confirm the right of England to the 
possession she had taken of the soil of New England. Saga^ 
dahoc became now a cardinal point of interest in the historic 
scene ; and the peninsula of the province of " Sabino," the 
river-king, on the 18th of August, 1607, was selected by Cap- 

1 Stracliey, M. IL C, vol. 3, p. 292. 

2 Strachey, M. H. C, vol. 3, p- 299. 

3 Strachey, M. H. C, vol. 3, p. 289. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 139 

tain Popliam of the ship " Gift of God," with thirty men, in con- 
junction with Captain Gilbert of the ship " Mary and John," witli 
eighteen men. Thus London and Bristol concurred in the 
choice for a site for the colonial home amid the wilds of New 
England. A permanent establishment was contemplated, and 
all the elements of European civilization, under the sanction 
of law and religion, were here freighted and organized in the 
new plantation. 

Ground was broken on the 20th of August, the 19th having 
been occupied in public acts of religious worship and service, 
and a body politic organized and confirmed, according to the 
forms and usages of English constitutional law and religion. 

A fair town of fifty houses, defended by a fort mounting 
twelve guns, fortified and entrenched according to the arts of 
military science, ornamented with a church and public store- 
house, at once enlivened the scene on the banks of the Sagada- 
hoc and distinguished the peninsula of the province of " Sabi- 
no " with English homes ; and the overlooking head-lands, 
gray old oaks, and tall pines of Arrowsic, echoed far and wide 
the hum and clatter of a shii>yard, from the ringing saw and 
maul in the hands of busy artizans led by Digby, a master- 
builder of London, upon the frame of the Virginia on the 
stocks, which was there built and launched, and was big enough 
to make afterwards a successful voyage to England. 

The peninsula of Powhatan, in the south, and the peninsula 
of the province of Sabino of northern Virginia, were at this 
moment points of contrasted colonial enterprise ; for while the 
plantation of Lord Popham, combining the colonial interests 
and energy of the Bristol and London men, gave fair promise 
of success at Sagadahoc, while Popham, Gilbert, Llarlow, Davis, 
Seymour, and Digby were entrenching there to make a fort ; — 
Wingfield, Newport, Gosnold, and Smith were having their 
" hearts torn and the night made hideous with outcries, sick- 
ness, and death, in every corner of their new made works at 



140 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Jamestown, in the Virginia of the south, by those to whom 
they could minister no relief, and whose bodies, trailed out of 
their cabins like dogs for burial, saddened the morning light." ^ 

Such were the concurring contrasts of the 20th and 22d of 
August, 1607, which burdened the scenes and quickened the 
changes of the two days which alone separated the colonial en- 
terprises of the London men at Jamestown, and the west of 
England men at Sagadahoc. 

The Sagadahoc enterprise was undoubtedly the beginning 
proper of European colonial life with the English race, not only 
in Maine, but in New England. 

MONHEGAN. 

When the " Gift of God,"] the Bristol ship of Popham, and. 
the " Mary and John," the London ship of Gilbert, discharged 
their living freight of English planters and shipwrights upon 
the banks of the Sagadahoc, the vestiges of a former occupancy 
alone were traceable on Monhegan, the St. George of the voy- 
ager George Weymouth. Savages held the forests of Pema- 
quid, whose dwellings occupied its river banks, whence emerged 
Nahanada and his savage bowman in battle array to lepel the 
landing^ of Popham and his boat's crew, who had been led 
there by Skidwarroes, their guide. Here, then, we take our 
position. Monhegan, though it may have been a transient 
home, had not been permanently held. There is no evidence 
that a white man had yet set his foot down at Pemaquid. Sag- 
adahoc must be viewed as the point of initial movement of 
European life and civilization on the shores of New England. 
More than this, wd regard the plantation there begun, as the 
initial step of the permanent foothold of the English race on 
the soil of New England. In our judgment, on a series of 
facts warranting the conclusion, the peninsula of the province 

1 Bancroft's History, vol. 1, p. 127. 

2 Strachey, M. H. C, vol. 3, p. 293. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 141 

of Sabino, and the fair English town there erected, were cen- 
ters of further explorations and the sources of an emigration, 
which finally^ transferred the action of colonial life and adven- 
ture to Pemaquid and the fair and fertile meadows of the oys- 
ter-bearing waters of the " Sip-sa-couta,"^ eastward. 

As we have before observed, it would hardly have been pos- 
sible for Sir Francis Popham, the representative of Sir John 
and of the Bristol interest in the western world, to have sus- 
tained his voyages to the Sagadahoc territory independent of 
main-land establishments to concentrate trade and gather furs ; 
and such plantations, in the insignificance of a private interest, 
would have been lost to the knowledge of a public recognition. 
Though it does not appear in the archives of the public acts of 
a colonial organization, yet I repeat it as the source of our his- 
toric traditions in the premises, and supported by the facts ex- 
hibited in their natural relationship, that the Bristol interest, — 
the element in the Popham colonists of the Skgadahoc planta- 
tion being familiar with the fertile bottoms and prolific waters 
of the east, did, on the margins of Pemaquid, near the village 
of Nahanada and on the interior Sheepscot and Damariscotta, 
at the site of the early New Dartmouth, the ancient shire of 
the county of Cornwall of the Dukedom, — make plantations 
as well as at Sagadahoc, — which were permanent till Boston 
became the capital of New England. 

What are the facts ? Captain Gilbert made many discove- 
ries,^ we are told, into the neighboring Maine and rivers. The 
Sagadahoc planters wrote back to England that they found 
oysters " nine inches long and heard of others twice as great." 
They must, therefore, have been up the Sheepscot and Damar- 
iscotta, and explored the oyster-bearing waters of these rivers 
above Pemaquid, in a region known, in aboriginal language, 

1 Aboriginal for Sheei^scot; means, " little birds flock or rush; " Sipsaconte 
and Sipsisacoke are different forms. 

2 M. II. C, vol. 3, p. 308. 

I 



142 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

as " Ped-cok-go-wake," where the remains of the oyster nine 
inches long are still found. Having completed his explorations, 
Captain Robert Davis ^ was sent to England in the ship, the 
" Mary and John," of London, on the 15th of December, 1607,^ 
with letters and supplies. The fort, store-house, town, and 
ship were not yet completed when Davis sailed ; and all things 
were represented as promising for the colony at that date. 
No mention is made of the fact, and there is no probability 
that any of the colonists returned with Davis. Had such a 
fact transpired. President Popham's letter of the 13th of De- 
cerflber would certainly have indicated it. The Bristol ship in 
the Popham interest, it would seem, therefore, remained at 
Sagadahoc. Prince in his chronology, indeed, writes " that 
two ships (one the Virginia, there built), sailed from Sagada- 
hoc in early winter with all the company ^ except forty-five, for 
England." 

The " Virginia " was not finished at the date of the first voy- 
age from Sagadahoc, but she did sail on the final voyage with 
the other London ship. If then, forty-five colonists were left at 
all, it must have been at the date of the abandonment of Sag- 
adahoc by Captain Gilbert and the London men. No mention 
is made of the return of Popham's ship, the " Gift of God," 
which was in the interest of the Bristol men. Indeed, it would 
appear to have been the London interest, in the colonial adven- 
ture at Sagadahoc, which led to the evacuation of that spot and 
the return to England. 

On the 5th of February, ^ the aged President Popham 
died. With his death the interest of the Bristol men 
A. D. became subordinate to that of the London men. We 
1608. submit, therefore, if the company of the colonists at- 
tached to the Bristol ship, the " Gift of God," and which 

1 Strachey, M. H. C, vol. 3, p. 308. 

2 Gorges' Narrative, M. H. C, vol. 2, p. 21. 

3 Prince's Chronology, p. 117. 

4 Prince's Chronology, p. 118. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 143 

appertained to the Popliam estate, were not the forty-five who, 
it is asserted by Prince, did not sail for England when the Vir- 
ginia, and Mary and John returned ? 

But more than this : — Gorges tells us that the son of the 
Chief Justice, " could not so give it over," ^ when Gilbert and 
those with him, at Sagadalioc, abandoned the enterprise of that 
colonial establishment ; and in the annals of that day, it is 
further said, that upon the death of Chief Justice Popham, 
^'- his son^ and successor, Sir Francis, loho was sent out, be- 
came Governor, and despatched vessels thither on his own ac- 
count,^^ and " having" the ships lohich remained of the company 
and supplying lohat was necessary, sent divers times to the 
coasts for trade and fishing, of whose losses and gains he him- 
self is best able to give an account. ^^ ^ 

PEMAQUID. * 

Captain John Smith, who visited Monhegan six years after, 
says, he found a ship of Sir Francis Popham's, which ^ had for 
many years past visited there, — "at the main-land opposite 
Monhegan, probably^ Pemaquid." Such are the facts. Did 
the " Gift of God," with the Bristol fragment, embracing the 
Popham interest in the Sagadahoc colony, remain behind on 
the desertion of the London men under Gilbert ? and did not 
this fragment take root at Pemaquid ? arid from thence spread 
to the neighboring waters of the Sheepscot ? Hence, ever after 
we find Pemaquid the rallying point for colonial settlement, 

1 Gorges, M. H. C, vol. 2, p. 28. • 

2 Strachey Intro. Hackluyt So. Hist. Trav. in Virginia, p. 17. 

3 Plj-mouth Go's relations, M. H C, vol. 2, p. 33. 

4 Pemaquid. — Rev. Paul CofBn met " Sabattis " at Carritunk, on the Ken- 
nebec, A. D. 1798, who gave him the meaning of several aboriginal words, used 
as names of notable localities. This native said Pemaquid meant, " a point of 
land running into the sea." — Paul Coffin's Journal, M. H. Col., vol. 4, p. 397. 

5 M. H. C, vol. 5, p. IGl. 

^ Thornton's Ancient Pemaquid. 



144 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

emigration, and commercial enterprise to the Bristol men of 
England, who gave the name of their city to the town of Bris- 
tol, which embraces this classic ground of Maine 'in its terri- 
tory. 

The vessels of Sir Francis Popham must have had a com- 
mercial depot for trade on the main-land, at the point indicated, 
for import of supplies and export of furs and fish, ^ where out 
freight was deposited and home freight gathered. The voyages 
of Sir Francis could not have been sustained without the sup- 
porting nucleus of a colonial trade station. Pemaquid would 
be the natural and attractive coast station from the friendli- 
ness of the natives ; some of whom had been in England and 
acquired the English tongue and a knowledge of English habits 
of life and civilization ; and the neighboring Sheepscot mead- 
ows and waters, with their facilities for human subsistence, in 
fishing and planting, would be the nearest accessible inland 
points of attraction for interior operations. 

Besides, there can be no doubt that subsequently to the de- 
cease of the aged President Popham, the Sagadahoc planters 
came in collision with the natives, and with doubtful results. 
Such has ever been the tradition of the red men of the Ken- 
nebec and of the white race in this vicinity, the occasion of 
which has reflected no honor upon the colonists, who excused 
their abandonment of Sagadahoc and their return to England 
on account of the savage climate of the land. The storehouse 
and supplies of the Sagadahoc colonists were devastated by 

1 The following translation of a brief extract from the Relation of Biard, 
may in some degree illustrate the statement made in the text : " The English of 
Virginia have the custom of coming every year to the islands of Pencoit, which 
are about twenty-five leagues from St. Saviour, (on Mt. Desert,) to supply them- 
selves with cod-fish for their w'inter. Directing their way, therefore, according 
to their habit, in the year of which we speak, 1613, they happened to be caught 
on the sea in the thick mists and fogs." — Jes. Relations, vol. 1, ch. 25, p. 46. 
Pencoit, like the Pemquit of Rale, and Paincuit of Cadillac, is a representa- 
tive of the present Pemaquid, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 145 

fire. Governor Sullivan, in his day, observed the remains of 
a fort made of earth and stones on the east side, at the mouth 
of the Kennebec. Seventy years after the abandonment of the 
Sagadahoc plantation, the ruins of a fort were shown to sea- 
men visiting the Sagadahoc waters, by the ancient Indians 
there residing, with the statement, " that^ upon some quarrel 
that fell out between the Indians and English, some Avere killed 
by the Indians, and the rest driven out of the fort." 

The Relation of the Jesuits alleges of the natives of Arrow- 
sick ( " Ar-row-chi-quois " ) " that they did not appear to be 
Ijad, although they had defeated the English ivho had wished 
to divell among them in the years 1608-9. They excused them- 
selves to us," continues the Relation, " concerning that action, 
and recounted the outrages which they had received from the 
said"2 English." 

Such is the historic view of the relations of the Sagadahoc 
plantation to the savage inhabitants of their wild home in the 
province of Sabino. 

There can be no doubt that collisions, more or less disastrous 
to the colonists, aided in hastening the abandonment of Saga- 
dahoc as the scat of a colonial home, and the breaking up of 
the plantation. 

Although the advent of the white race to Sagadahoc had 
been welcomed by the aboriginal residents of Pemaquid, the 
bowmen and subjects and friends of Nahanada and Skidwar- 
roes, as the harbinger of hopes of high promise to the stranger 
natives of Kennebec, it was a source of doubt and a prelude 
to perils. They greeted •' the colonists with hostile attitudes, 
and tales of " Cannibals that lived near Sagadahoc armed with 
teeth three inches long." While the town was going uj) at the 

1 Appendix to Hubbard's Indian Wars, p. 75 ; Sewall's Ancient Dominions of 
Maine, p. 228. 

2 Jesuit Relations, toI. 1, ch. 18, p. 30. 

3 Folsom's yUldress, M. H, C, vol. 2, p. 32. 

11 

i 



14G MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

sea side, Captain Gilbert penetrated tlie upper waters of tlie 
interior, and pushing his discoveries far inland, at eventide 
voices in broken English hailed him /rom the opposite shore. 
It turned out to be the call of certain savages ; and at morn- 
ing light a " canoa" came to them, and in her a Sagamo, who 
told them his name was " Sebenoa," " lord of the river of 
Sagadahoc." 

The clansmen of Sebenoa were fierce and warlike men, and 
by stratagem, menaces, and force, sought to overpower Gilbert 
and his boat's crew ; and, says the narrator, " these Avere 
stranger ^ Indians, — such as the like before had not been seen." 
The subjects of the Bashaba, the "Wawcnnack Prince of Pem- 
aquid, courted the acquaintance and friendship of the Sagada- 
hoc planters while the river natives, the subjects of " the lord 
of the river of Sagadahoc," repelled both. It is therefore but 
reasonable that as a result of the changes and disturbance con- 
sequent on the decease of the President, Popham, and the ac- 
cession of the London interest in the person of Captain Gilbert 
to the head of the management of the plantation affairs, the 
hostility of the Sagadahoc natives, especially the wrongs and 
abuses springing up under the new order of things, — tnat the 
Bristol men with the Popham ship should have extended the 
colonial movement and sought a new home at Pcmaquid, wil- 
der the protection of Nahanada and his bowmen in the Basha- 
ba's kingdom, and near hil royal abode ; — and that in the 
breaking up of the Sagadahoc plantation under the lead of the 
London interest, the Bristol element, in the estate and interest 
of the Popham family, should have been left at Pcmaquid at 
the departure of the London men, and there become a new 
center of attraction and trade supporting the subsequent pri- 
vate operations of Sir Francis Popham, who continued to send 
his ships to this point for furs and fish ; whose establishment at 

1 Stracliey. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 147 

length grew into the city of Jamestown, and for a century 
nearly, was the capital of New England before Boston was. 
Hence, history has recorded that there were people at Pema- 
quid from the time Sir H. Gilbert took possession, who were 
strangers and did not venture south till the settlement of Ply- 
mouth. ^ xind at New Dartmouth, in the county of Cornwall, 
(the Si}>sa-couta, or Duck River of the aborigines), there was 
a settlement in the early days of New England as early as in 
any part of the Pemaquid country. 

At all events, thirteen years after the dissolution and aban- 
donment of the plantation at Sagadahoc, history has disclosed 
the fact that a hamlet of " fifty families," known as the " Sheep- 
scot farms," adorned the banks of that river, and which subse- 
quently became the capital of the county of Cornwall in the 
Ducal State, into which the Sagadahoc territory was after- 
wards erected. 

These facts warrant the conclusion, that a fragment of the 
Sagadahoc plantation, sinhracing the ivest of England or city 
of Bristol element, and in the interest of the Popham family, 
on the dissolution of that enterprise, ivas driven off and lodged 
at Pemaquid, in the Popham ship '■'• Gift of God;'''' while the 
London men in the interest of the Gilbert family , folloiving his 
lead, returned ivith Raleigh Gilbert in the ships " Mary and 
John,''^ and the " Virginia,^^ built at Sagadahoc, to England, 
1G08. 

Thus we have explained, in entire consistency with historic 
truth, the statement ^ of Prince in his chronology, that all but 
forty-five planters departed from Sagadahoc for England in two 
ships, of which the "Virginia" was one. These, with the 
" Gift of God," (of whose return to England no mention is 
made, and which was the Popham ship), must have been left 
at Pemaquid, the scene of the subsequent operations of the 

1 Sullivan, lGO-70; Am. Statistical Soc. vol. 1, p. 1. 
'- Princo's Clironology, p. 117. 



148 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Popham family, and some of these colonists, attracted to the 
Sheepscot meadows above, whose waters, prolific with the 
means of subsistence in magnificent oyster beds and shoals of 
fish, all within the jurisdiction of the Pemaqnid sovereignty, 
would there have become an interior establishment for the col- 
lection of furs and freight, encouraging the annual visits of 
Sir Francis Popham's ships to Pemaquid. When Capt. 
A. D. Levett, sixteen years after the abandonment of Saga- 
1623-4. dalioc, sailed into Boothbay harbor at the mouth of 
the Sheepscot, ^'■Pemaquid'' had become the g-)-cat 
center of trade to the native hordes of Maine from the Penob- 
scot to ^^Accacisco." 

Therefore, if like the Ijaseless falnic of a dream, the vision 
of a fair English town ^ of fifty houses, with its church and 
fort, mounted and entrenched, has dissolved, yet the evidence 
is quite conclusive that in that dissolution, English life, Eng- 
lish homes, and English civilization did not cease to be found 
within the Ancient Dominions of Maine ! Pemaquid took her 
root from the colonial plantation at Sagadahoc, and sent up 
fresh, vigorous, and fruitful shoots iw the families of the 
" Sheepscot fatins,'" between the head waters of the aboriginal 
" SiPSA and Naamas Couta," the " rivers " of abounding " fowl 
and fish." 

SAGADAHOC A DUKEDOM. TEMAQUID, CAPITAL OF NEW ENGLAND. 

Sagadahoc - territory was erected into a Ducal State, it hav- 
ing become the patrimony of the Duke of York. The 
A. D. city of New York was, at this date, the center of its 
1604. civil and military authority and relationship. The rites 
and services of religion were scrupulously maintained 
at Pemaquid ; and, by royal order, " For the promotion of piety, 

1 It is said the Dutch, as earlj' as 1G07, attempted to settle Damaiiscotta. — 
Eaton's Annals, p. 17. 

2 Ancient Dominions of Maine, pp. 1J4-148. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 149 

it was ordered, that a person be appointed to read prayers ^ and 
the holy scriptures." Thus it will be seen that religion, 
then and there, had its support in the graced and devout ritual 
of the English Episcopal service. So at Sagadahoc, the histo- 
rian records, that on the 5th of October,^ 1G07, it being Sun- 
day, Nahanada and wife, Skidwarroes, Sasanow, the Bashaba's 
brother, and Amenquin were at Fort George ; and President 
Popham " took them to the place of public prayers," which 
" they attended morning and evening with great reverence and 
solenuiity." 

In the assembly of New York, Gyles Goddard, by the free- 
holders of Pemaquid and dependencies, was elected as 
representative. The State of Maine, as a Dukedom, sur- A. D. 
vived till 1687, when, by the accession of the Duke of 168-1. 
York to the Throne of England, and the appointment of 
Andros as Governor of New England by royal order, the Ducal 
State was merged in the civil existence of Massachusetts " as 
the District of Maine." This act called forth the remonstrance 
of the inhabitants of Pemaquid, which, for more than three 
quarters of a century, had worn metroplitan honors and held 
metropolitan relationship to New England ; and on the removal 
of Andros to Boston, as the seat of gubernatorial authority, he 
was met before the government by a protest from the cast, ^ 
" that Pemaquid should remain still the metropolis of these 
parts, because it had ever been so before Boston was settled.^' 
But the prestige of the ancient capital of New England had 
gone. The plea of hoary life and honors could avail nothing. 
Pemaquid fell into neglect ; and, on her ruins, Boston climbed 
into the place and power of a Metropolitan State. 

PLYMOUTH A NURSLING OF MAINE. 

The facts of history not only clearly assert the precedence *of 
Maine, as the scene of the earliest developments of English 

1 Strachey, M. H. C, vol. 3, p. 307. 

2 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 189. 



150 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

life, civilization, and commerce, but fully show that Plymouth 
and her Puritan refugees owe much to the State of Maine for 
their successful establishment in the New World. 

About midnight of the 7tli of December, 1620, an exploring 
party of the Mayflower emigration, who had been ranging the 
woods of Cape Cod in search of a suitable landing-place for 
a colonial home, were disturbed by " hideous cries along the 
shore." In the early light of morning the cries were renewed, 
and the sentinel had only time to cry out, " Indians ! Indians !^ 
when the arrows came flying thick about them." 

Disturbed and repelled by these menaces, the adventurers 
crossed over to the northern headland of the bay of Cape Cod, 
where was found " a harl^or fit for shipping ; and divers corn- 
fields, and little running brooks, and a place fit for a situation." 
It was a place of the aboriginal dead. " Many bones and 
skulls " were the sad mementoes of a people that had been, 
but now were not ! In this Golgotha were reared their homes 
of timber, trees, and thatch, surrounded with mouldering 
heaps. Sometimes only six or seven sound persons were left 
to help the weak, the impotent, the sick and dying. " Few 
and very weak," the Plymouth colonists in the midst of these 
monuments of death and depopulation, were ready to become 
the prey of savages, " who were wont to be most cruel and 
treacherous in all these parts, and like lions." Not more than 
one-half of the original number survived. 

Their dwelling-place with the bones of the unnumbered dead, 
the icy hand of winter daily laying out the corpses of their 
fellow pilgrims, and the wolves and tigers of mankind crouch-' 
ing at their doors, ready at any moment to spring upon them 
from their forest lair, all combined to create an emergency, in 
which the interposition of a friendly hand alone could save the 
embryo State from impending and fatal desolation. 

1 Thaclier's Plymouth, p. 22. Mortoia's Memorial, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 151 

At tliis juncture it was that Maine interposed, and deter- 
mined the crisis ; that Maine, in the person of lier wild' son, the 
savage lord of Pemaqiiid, a sachem of the region of the present 
Bristol, our Samoset, with outstretched arms and generous greet- 
ings, appeared amid the sand hills of Plymouth harbor, to 
welcome and introduce, under auspicious circumstances and 
with fostel'ing hand, the embryo State of Massachusetts to her 
wild home on the shores of the New World. Great was the 
surprise of the Puritans at the vision of a wild man, walking 
boldly and alone into their streets from the depths of the en- 
vironing forests, crying in a broken dialect of their own tongue, 
" Much welcome. Englishmen ; much welcome. Englishmen ; " 
and to find him a man " free ' of speech and of seemly car- 
riage." 

It probably was the salvation of the Plymouth colony. "No 
incident," writes the chronicler of those days, "could have diffus- 
ed greater joy into the hearts of the disconsolate and infirm ; it 
seemed like an angelic herald to their sick and dying." ^ Thus 
^as prepared the way for a peaceful fostering intercourse be- 
tween the colonists and the natives, during the infancy of the 
Puritan State on the shores of Massachusetts. Savage fears 
were calmed and savage jealousies subdued, and from being foes, 
the neighboring and powerful savage chieftains were converted 
into friends ; who, taking the infant State into their bosoms, 
cherished and warmed into new life the colony, ready to perish 
on the bare rock of Plymouth ! Who does not read in these 
prefatory lines of New England history the causes determining 
the destinies of New England, in the opportune and kindly in- 
terposition of Maine, in the person of her humane, generous, 
and noble son of Pemaquid, to prepare the way for a peaceful 
abode among a strange and barbarous people, who had already 
summoned the entire force of tlieir powows to practice their 

1 Ancient Dominions, p. 102. , 

2 Thacber's History of Plymouth, p. 34. 



152 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

incantations in a dark and dismal swamp for days together, 
in order to cast out the intrusive Puritans ? 

And it is not the only instance in which Massachusetts, from 
the manhood of her present proud estate, may look back to 
the openings of colonial life with gratitude as she beholds the 
fostering hand of Maine, as an elder sister, watching at the 
cradle of her own infancy ! Aid and comfort were furnished 
out of the resources of Maine in her Ancient Dominions, to 
the Puritans famishing on Plymouth rock. 

The harbor Islands of Boothbay, at this date, were the scene 
of commercial and fishing interests, for no less than " thirty 
saiP of vessels," and the granary of the embryo "sovereign- 
ties" 2 of New England. 

The last of May, the Puritan town of Plymouth, being a 
year and six months old, descried from the sand hills of Ply- 
mouth harbor a vessel at sea. It proved to be a shallop from 
Damarin's Cove, in the eastern parts of New England, — a 
vision from the Ancient Dominions of Maine, — heralding the 
hope of relief to the famished colonists who were anxiously 
looking for supplies from England. 

This vessel turned out to be a shallop, and to the disappoint- 
ment of the Puritans landed in Plymouth harbor seven mcn^ 
and letters, but no Ijread ; but the sympathy and encourage- 
ment, afforded in one of these missives from the pen of John 
Hudson, a ship master at Boothbay, though interested in the 
colonial plantation of Southern Virginia, who, nevertheless, 
had at heart the success of the Plymouth enterprise, contribut- 
ed to revive the drooping spirits of the Puritan colonists. The 
returning Boothbay shallop led the way of the famishing Puri- 
tans to the " Ancient Dominions of Maine," followed by Wins- 
low, under orders of the Plymouth governor, in a Plymouth 
shallop, to get bread for the colony, who wrote ])ack : — "I 

1 Morton's Memorial, p. 32. 

2 Thonilou'.'s Peiiiaquid. 

3 Morton's Memorial, pp. 40-41. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 153 

found kind entertainment and good respect, with a willingness 
to supply our wants which were done so far as able ; and Avould 
not take any hills for the same, hut did what they could freely." 
Thus did Maine contribute of her store to sustain the infant 
colony of Massachusetts ; and by this act of munificence on the 
part of the residents of the Ancient Dominions of Maine, Mor- 
ton in his Memorial of Plymouth, asserts that the Plymoth- 
eans in their " plantation had a good quantity of provisions."^ 

These facts, in the historical remains of Sagadahoc, the 
ancient seat of colonial life of New England, warrant the posi- 
tion we have taken. 

A summary will show that thirteen years before a Puritan 
foot trod the soil of New England, a fair town of fifty houses, 
protected by an entrenched twelve-gun fort, ornamented with 
a church having a stated minister of the gospel, enlivened 
with the hum and clatter of busy artizans in a shii>yard, 
had planted the colonization, the commerce and the Christian- 
ity of Europe in North America on the shores of the " Ancient 
Dominions of Maine;" — that Maine, in the person of her 
wild son Samoset of Pemaquid, with outrstretched arms and 
generous greetings, stood on the sands of Cape Cod to wel- 
come and introduce under favorable auspices, the embryo 
State of Massachusetts from the deck of the Mayflower, to 
her wild home on the shores of the New World ; — that the 
Puritans, famishing on Plymouth Rock, were supplied by the 
charities of Maine, in the beginnings of colonial life. The 
" Ancient Dominions of Maine " have, therefore, been prolific 
of life, peace, and success to the infancy of New England. 

In Sagadahoc was planted the root whose fatness has fur- 
nished New England with the strength, verdure, freshness and 
beauty in English life, civilization and Christian virtue. 

It is a pertinent and pregnant question in the solution of the 
successful present of New England, v.hat, to-day, would have 

1 Moi'tou's Memorial, pp. 40-41. 



154 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

been tlie history of Plymouth rock and the Puritans, — the past 
of Massachusetts — had it not been for Maine and her kindly 
offices and sisterly attentions, at the ceadling of her existence 
in the wilds of the "West. When Dudley and his companions 
found the misanthropic Blackstone, the sole occupant of the 
woods of Shawmut Point, the site of Boston, and who, because 
he had left England in disgust, " not likeing the Lords Bishops," 
would not welcome the new comers, because he did not like 
the " Lords Brethren " any better, the crisis of colonial existence 
and success in New England had passed. I therefore leave it 
for statesmen to solve what would have been the present of New 
England, had it not been for Manic, and the attractions and 
resources of her Ancient Dominions. 



The Virginia of Sagadahoc, — the first vessel built, on the North American 
continent; the germ of that naval architecture whicli has made Maine the fore- 
most community of the world in shipbuilding. 

As the Committee have received no response to this senti- 
ment, «it has been deemed proper to connect with it the follow- 
ing statement : 

" In the year one thousand six hundred and fourteen," says 
De Laet, " the ship of Skipper Adrian Block took fire by acci- 
dent, and he built here ^ a Yacht of thirty-eight feet keel, forty- 
four feet and a half on deck, and eleven feet and a half beam, 
with which he sailed through the Hellegat into the Great 
Baj/, and visited all the places thereabout, and went in it as far 
as Cape Cod." - In Hazard's " Annals of Pennsylvania," the 
yacht is called the " Restless.^' It is also said, " In 1616, Capt. 
Hendricksen in the Restless departs for the Schuylkill," &c. 
AVith these statements is connected the assertion that this craft 
was " The prst vessel built in this countrii hij Europeans.'''' 

1 Near New York. 

2 Benson's Memoir, p. 30. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 155 

This claim of priority, like some others, is clearly neutral- 
ized by the record of Strachey, that in the first year of the 
Popham Colony [1G07-8], "the carpenters framed a pretty 
Pynnacc of about some thirty tonne, which they called the 
Virginia; the chief shipwright being one Pigby of London." ^ 

Thus, by several years, this " pretty Pynnace " stands at the 
head of the list of the countless vessels for commerce and war, 
which have come from the forests of our country. In the 
great enterprise of ship-building, Maine has long taken the 
foremost place ; and the city of Bath, near the ancient Saga- 
dahoc, has been chief in the State. The example of Digby 
and the Virginia has not been neglected. 

It may be proper to add, as connected with the history of 
our shore-line, that Capt. Hendricksen in the " Restless " 
(Onriist), sailed along on our coast previously to " the 18tli of 
August, 1616," and made a " figurative" map thereof as far as 
Pentegouet (Penobscot River), of which a fac-simile is given 
in 1st Colonial Document, N. Y., jDi 13. 

The Colonij of Massaehusetls^ ^cy, — founded in 1G29, by men of the same un- 
conquerable will as those that brought royalty to the block, and discarded pre- 
scription as heresy. Their descendants have ever shown a faithful adherence 
to the doctrine of " Uniformity^ 

The following response to this sentiment was made l)y the 
Hon. Emory Washburn, of Camlnidge, late Governor of the 
State of Massachusetts : 

GOV. Washburn's address. 

Mr. Washburn said. It was with something more than the 
ordinary awe with which one is impressed in addressing a vast 
assembly, that he rose to obey the call which the president had 
made upon him to speak of the relations between Maine and 

1 Hist. Trav. uitu Va., ch. x., p. 179. 



156 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Massachusetts. He seemed to stand in the conscious presence 
of the history of more than two centuries since Plymouth and 
Kcnncl)cc were embraced in a common patent, as he recalled 
the part which the Sons of Massachusetts had taken in helping 
to plant upon the virgin soil of Maine, the institutions wliicli 
have changed a wilderness into the homes of a busy, prosperous 
and happy community. 

And yet, frankness compelled him to say that he feared that 
like other pet children ever since the days of Solomon, this 
favorite child of the old Bay State had at times been inclined 
to take airs, even before she became of age, and had set up 
house-keeping for herself. And when he saw by the papers, that 
she was proposing to commemorate an event in her history, 
away back in the remote ages of the past, he felt that it was 
a little presuming, inasmuch as it was touching Massachusetts, 
and especially the old colony of Plymouth, in a tender point. 
He was the more impressed with this, when he recalled an ex- 
cursion he had taken, less than forty years ago, along the banks 
of this beautiful Kennebec, over the L^cenes to which the ro- 
mantic story of Father Pale's heroism and death had lent a 
charm, where as he stood and looked out upon an unbroken 
forest, he innocently supposed it was then a 7iew country, and 
little dreamed that there had been a heroic age upon the banks 
of that river, of whose events history then knew so little. 

It was therefore, with no little surprise that he received a note 
from his excellent friend Dr. Wheeler, enclosing an invitation 
to attend a celebration of the 255th anniversary of the founding 
of the First English Colony on the shores of New England ! 
"With the notions of a Massachusetts' man, how could he help 
suspecting that here was an attempt to rob her of her laurels, 
when he saw that it was going back to a point of time thirteen 
years before the genuine Puritan hegira. It seemed to him to 
1)6 a political heresy almost etpuil to that of secession itself. 
He thereupon began to inquire what they were prc>])0sing t(^ 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 157 

commemorate, and he took down from his shelves a Ijlack letter 
folio marked " Popham's Reports " to see if he conld find 
something of the Fort Popham mentioned in his invitation. 
But failing in that, he hunted up his classical dictionary for 
the word ">S'rtZ>mo" and concluded that, after all, here must 
have been the spot where the early Romans are said to have 
got their wives, hy a rather rude kind of courtship, and he 
looked around on his arrival at the spot, to see the veritable 
wolf which Romulus is said to have suckled. He came hero 
determined, let what would happen, to protest against every 
thing that denied that Plymouth was the true hive of the 
" Universal Yankee Nation." He confessed, however, he had 
been utterly disarmed by the courtesies he had shared here to- 
day, and he would no longer protest against anything ; and if 
anyl)ody were to insist that Noah's ark landed on one of these 
hills, and would get up a celebration like this, to commemorate 
it, he would volunteer to come and take part in it, without 
doubting it was true. 

He had listened with deep interest to-day, to the narrative 
of the sufferings and failure of the colony that was planted 
here. But, as a Massachusetts' Puritan, he would venture to 
suggest another cause of this failure, which he wished to do 
sub rosa, and in rather a confidential manner, lest some Epis- 
copalian or Unitarian might over-hear him and take exception 
at his remark. And that was, that Sir George Popham, instead 
of bringing over with him, as we are told he did, a clergyman 
of the Established Church, ought to have called and settled a 
right-down Orthodox Congregational minister over the First 
Parish of Sagadahoc. And in the same spirit he would add, 
it might have been well if he had any Quakers or Baptists in 
his colony, to have made a salutary example of them, as Mas- 
sachusetts afterwards did, with such signal success. 

But, said Mr. W., I am wasting in remarks which may seem 
to be unfitted to the dignity of the occasion, the moments 
wliich ouglit to be devoted to more grave and serious topics. 



158 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The first thing tliat must suggest itself to the mind of every 
one, is the contrast between the motives which impelled, and 
the success which attended the planting of the colonics of 1607 
and of 1620. Trade, commerce, worldly gain, were the incen- 
tives to the one. Free thought, and the growth and culture 
of pure .religious sentiment were the springs of action in the 
other. To the one, we are told in the words of their own his- 
tory, " the country was intolerably cold and sterile, and not 
habitable by the English nation." To the other, the terrors of 
an unprotected winter exposure were far less terrible than the 
heavy hand of a hierarchy from whose persecutions they had 
escaped. 

"Amidst the storm they sung, 
And the stars heard, and the sea. 
And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rung, 
To the anthems of the free." 

The one, after a few months struggle, failed, and disappeared 
forever. The other, in spite of climate, or soil, or savage foes, 
planted the living germ of one of the mightiest nations on the 
globe. The fate of the two colonies is a lesson which should 
not be lost in studying the causes of human greatness, and of 
n^itional success. Is it too much to say, that it was fortunate 
for this great and growing State, that so much of the vital germ 
of her present social and political existence as a body politic, 
was transplanted from the seed-bed of the colonies of Massa- 
chusetts Bay, rather than to have sprung directly from the 
adventurers who came here as the fellow colonists of President 
Geo. Popham ? It is seen in the thriving cities and villages that 
are scattered over its territory. It is seen in the quiet, happy 
homes that skirt every wayside, and in the bold, brave, self- 
reliant, intelligent men, and the refined and intelligent women, 
that one meets with here, everywhere. 

These are the fruits of institutions such as the Pilgrims 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 159 

planted ; and Massachusetts and Plymouth have but repeated 
themselves here upon a wider and broader field, which so many 
of their sons have helped to cultivate and people. And as their 
ancestors formed but one body politic in the great struggle of 
the Revolution, the sons of Maine and Massachusetts are now 
battling as In-others, side by side, in the greater struggle in 
which our country is this day engaged. It is a struggle whether 
the free thought, the manly independence, the blessings of wise 
laws and a good government, which our fathers purchased with 
their blood, shall be preserved for us and our posterity, or the 
iron heel of an oligarchal despotism be planted upon the necks 
of the down-trodden masses. 

He would not pursue this thought, but he would venture to 
say a single word of the occasion and of this mighty gathering 
of the people. We need more of such meetings. We need 
something to bind us together, beyond the mere letter of a 
civil compact or the sympathy of a national name. The strong- 
est bond of national unity among the jarring and jealous States 
of Greece, was found in their public gatherings and at her na- 
tional games. In the eager pursuit of gain and personal ad- 
vancement, there is danger of the people forgetting that they 
are a nation, or have a nation's history and honor to vindicate 
and maintain. 

The sons and daughters of New England, who go out into 
other regions of our constantly widening republic, remember 
the homes and the institutions they have left, with affection 
and respect. But the children of the next generation have 
only a traditional tie in these associations, which grows weaker 
with each succeeding generation, where there is not something 
beyond the mere intercourse of business, to draw them together 
by feelings of a common sympathy. 

The conspirators of the south understood this, and acted 
upon it, when they sent back to New England the schoolmas- 
ters and schoolmistresses who were teaching their children, 



IGO MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

and withdrew their sons from northern colleges, and their 
danghters from northern schools. They understood it, when 
they denied to the citizens of our State, the constitutional 
guaranties of protection in another ; for they knew that by free 
intercourse and interchange of opinions between the people of 
the different States, the free thought and liberal training of the 
northern mind must ever be antagonistic to the policy Avliich 
they were seeking to inaugurate. We saw here to-day, in 
this vast assemblage of men and women, coming up hither 
from no class and from no circumscribed locality, in palpable 
form, the fruits of that great elementary distinction there is 
Ijetween northern and southern institutions, in the social in- 
fluence that elevates and the prosperous success which crowns 
free, intelligent, well paid labor. It is this great leading prin- 
ciple which has made the hardy soil of Massachusetts the most 
densely peopled spot in our whole country. It has changed 
the wilderness of Maine into regions of beauty and thrift and 
comfort. In this, as in every other good thing, Maine and 
Massachusetts have gone on together, — the daughter emulating 
the mother, — the mother, aided by the reaction of that very 
emulation, taking another step in a common, onward progress 
towards the condition of perfect commonwealths. 

He would ask a moment's longer indulgence, while he fol- 
lowed out a single thought which pressed upon his mind as he 
contemplated the beautiful relation in which Maine and Mass- 
achusetts had always stood towards each other, wdiether under 
the same form of civil government, or each wdth its independ- 
ent organization. Why, and he spoke it with pain and sorrow, 
did they witness such a contrast between the kindly sympathies 
of the once mother and the daughter, though now independent 
in all matters of domestic government, in the one case, and 
what they hear from the political leaders and read in the peri- 
odical press of the mother country of them both, towards the 
children of her own sons who planted English thought and 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 161 

English love of freedom hero on the shores of New England ? 
The time was when they hoasted a common origin, a common 
language, a common history, and a common sympathy of free- 
men. Has the mother grown alien to herself? If they could 
have conceived that a change so much to be lamented, were 
possible, they ought to believe so no longer, after listening to 
the eloquent language and noble sentiments of the honorable 
gentleman (Hon. Mr. McGee), who had preceded him. It 
was with pride that, while he had to speak of the politicians 
and the press of England, he could do justice to the heart and 
intellect of her noble Queen, illustrious as a sovereign, and 
still more illustrious as a virtuous and a high souled woman, 
and CQiild say that he did not believe that the language that 
comes to us from the organs of public sentiment there, spoke 
the feelings of the great English heart. And yet he must ask 
why it was, that the holy cause of human liberty and human 
rights in America, have found so few champions in the great 
body of the English press ? There were a few illustrious excep- 
tions. But the press, as a power, was hostile to the cause of hu- 
man freedom here. Why is the voice of Brougham no longer 
hoard pleading the cause of down-trodden humanity ? Is the 
mother's nature aljout to change ? Is England to forget the 
scene at her own Eiinnymede, and is the Magna Charta becom- 
ing a dead letter ? Is she going to blot out what her Milton 
wrote, and Hampden dared, and Chatham uttered, and to 
smother the silent eloquence of the history of a thousand years, 
beneath the cotton bales of a band of conspirators against the 
cause of English liberties and human rights ? 

If such is to be her future, let the sons of New England 
show to the world that if Old England is recreant to her own 
history, her sons here will take up that record and be true to 
the glorious old traditions of the past. Who, that has a drop 
of English blood in his veins, would not blush that the same 
proud nation who, through the voice of their chief justice, in 



162 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Somerset's case, proclaimed, ninety years ago, that the air of 
England was too pure for a slave to breathe in, could be found 
cheering on, by acquiesence, at least, the slaveholder in his re- 
bellion to rear a despotism of caste, upon the corner-stone of 
negro slavery ? If the sympathy of kindred ties are to l^e sac- 
rificed to the subordinate forms of State polity, let her Icarh 
from the history of her ancient colony of the Bay, that every 
step made in the prosperity of the daughter, adds new strength 
and vigor to the mother, while it appeals to her, in the name of 
unborn generations, to stand up in the dignity of her better na- 
ture, to carry forward the great struggle for human freedom, 
in which the nations of the earth are engaged. In view of the 
history of States, whose names had been associated in the sen- 
timent to which he had been called upon to respond, l]e would 
say, in closing. Beautiful mother, more beautiful daughter, 
honored alike in their devotion to the cause of a common coun- 
try and of human rights. 

The President of the United States. 

Arrangements were made to secure a response to this senti- 
ment, from a gentleman high in position in the government of 
our country. But his inability to be present has deprived tho 
committee of the power to present an extended reference to 
our Chief Magistrate and the afflicted state of the nation, 
which the circumstances of that time would have rendered 
most appropriate, and deeply interesting, from the fearful dis- 
asters to our army under Gen. Pope on the day of this cele- 
bration. 

The Queen of Great Britain. 

This sentiment was responded to by John J. Day, Esq., of 
Montreal, on behalf of the St. George's Society of that city. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 163 

MR. day's speech. 

Mr. Day said, — He rose under a deep sense of the responsibil- 
ity wliicli devolved upon him, and regretted it had not fallen to 
aljler hands to respond to the sentiment proposed ; but he felt 
consoled in the reflection that, in the peculiar relation he stood 
to this, as well as the mother country, his remarks might be 
entitled to some weight at their hands, as expressing opinions 
less likely to be influenced by prejudice than might Ije those of 
other gentlemen present, holding official relations to Her Majes- 
ty's Government in England. That, although an Englishman 
by birth, and for many years, latterly, a resident of Canada, he 
had for some time previously resided in the United States, and 
made this country, to some extent, that of his adoption. He 
said it was hardly necessary for him to speak of Her Majesty 
as an eminently virtuous and exemplary mother, one who had 
so fitly trained and educated her children to l^ecome the future 
Kings and Queens of England. That the demeanor and con- 
duct of the Prince of AVales, some two years ago, as their guest, 
extolled as he was at the time for his modest bearing, consist- 
ent conduct, sound sense and good judgment, need alone be 
referred to as evidence of Her Majesty's maternal guidance 
and care in training him for the high position he is, in all prob- 
ability, destined, at some future day, to fill. That, as a Sov- 
ereign Queen, her rule was universally acknowledged to be 
benign, righteous, and just. That, in fact, she lived in the 
hearts of her people. That whatever misconceptions might 
exist here as to the policy of Her Majesty's Ministers, with ref- 
erence to the misunderstandings that have at times unhappily 
arisen between the United States Government and that of Great 
Britain, the American nation have, through their organs, the 
press, always expressed an implicit confidence in Her Majes- 
ty, as personally their friend and well wisher. That the time 
was, when tyranny and despotism were the predominant fea- 



164 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

turcs in the reign of Kiilgs and Queens ; that happily the times 
had changed, and whilst we could not but admire Her Majes- 
ty, as endowed with qualities so fitted to her exalted station, it 
was but right to attribute those endowments, in a large meas- 
ure, to the influences of the age in which we live, — to that pro- 
gress in our common civilization which, under the blessings of 
Providence, is the peculiar characteristic .of the period, — in 
fact, to the moral, religious, social, and political influences of 
that civilization to which the people of Great Britain and Amer- 
ica, and in some respects, France, have so largely contributed 
in their persistent struggles, from time to time, during the last 
two centuries, to establish political and religious liberty, and 
free representative institutions. 

As representing the Saint George's Society of Montreal, and 
as a resident of Canada and subject of Great Britain, he would 
tender to them, on that occasion, the warmest sympathy, and 
would assure them, as his honorable friend, D'Arcy McGee 
had done, that it is a mistake to suppose that the feeling in 
Canada or England, as regards their present unhappy and 
much to be deplored national troubles, is to any extent un- 
favorable to the American Union. That there would be, — > 
there always are, — some sordid minds, actuated by the love 
of the " almighty dollar," who would pander to the vilest pur- 
poses, and it would be strange if either England or Canada 
should be entirely exempt from that foible of our common' 
humanity. No, Mr. President, he repeated, it is with painfully 
sympathetic feelings that the people of England and Canada 
regard the devastating and ruinous internecine Avar now in- 
festing our fair country, and tliat there did not exist amongst 
them, as a people, the desire to see our hitherto hapj^y and 
prosperous land, composed as it is principally of the descend- 
ants of a common stock with themselves, rent asunder and de- 
stroyed in its integrity as a nation. 

Mr, Day then proceeded to comment upon the remarks made 



POPHAM CELEBRATION^. 165 

by the previous speaker, the Honorable Ex-Governor Wash- 
burn, of Massachusetts, in respect to the part which, it ap- 
peared to him (Mr. W.), England had manifested a desire to 
take, unfavorable to the cause of the American Union. Mr. 
Day said, that for a time he felt that that honorable gentle- 
man's remarks about England, did not do her justice ; but that, 
winding up as he did, by eulogizing Her Majesty, and express- 
ing a doubt as to whether it was not rather a mere suspicion 
than a fact, rightfully attested, that the Government and peo- 
ple of England were adverse to the North, threw so healing a 
salve oYer the wound inflicted by that honorable gentleman's 
previous remarks as to England's feeling and conduct, that he 
(Mr. Day) felt somewhat relieved from the weight of the im- 
pressions previously made upon him by the honorable gentle- 
man. He said the honorable gentleman had complained of 
England's conduct as false to her previous anti-slavery profes- 
sions, — that it seemed to him (Mr. W.), that instead of desir- 
ing to aid them in their present struggle to get rid of slavery, 
she desired, by the policy she pursued, to perpetuate it. But 
he (Mr. Day) felt that England was, in that statement, un- 
fairly accused. That England's policy would ever be the 
emancipation of the slave ; but that in working out that policy, 
,she would desire to have due regard to those rights of prop- 
erty which, under that ill-conceived institution, is here in 
America acknowledged, and which was unhappily found to 
exist at the time of the forming of the Constitution. That the 
question in the present struggle between/ the North and the 
South, was not really and truly whether slavery should be 
abolished or perpetuated, — that the President of the United 
States himself had but lately issued a proclamation, in which 
he distinctly declared that not to be the case. That it was to 
maintain the Constitution and restore the Union that we were 
fighting ; not to al)olish or perpetuate slavery, except as the 
one or the other might be necessary to the achievement of the 



16G MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

great object of the Government in its endeavors to suppress the 
rebeUion. "Why charge England as unfriendly to the North 
because of her neutrality ? Had not the United States Gov- 
ernment itself pursued a similar policy on at least more than 
one occasion, when the deepest sympathies of a free and gener- 
ous people might, to some extent, have rendered intervention 
less culpable ? He referred more particularly to the case of 
" down-trodden Hungary," when their exiled patriot and lead- 
er, Kossuth, expatriated, on our shores pleaded so ably his 
country's wrongs ? That England had thus far throughout our 
troubles remained firm to that policy of non-intervention, which 
we ourselves, under our own Constitution, deemed the right 
one ; and this, too, in the face of the prostration of her com- 
merce and the extremest distress amongst her working classes, 
occasioned by the difficulties in obtaining cotton from the 
South, in consequence of the blockade by our own fleets. That 
she had done nothing, as a Government, to aid the rebel cause. 

What, therefore, he would kindly ask of us, is it that we 
would have her do more than she had done to convince us of 
her honesty and rectitude of purpose toward us, as a nation ? 
That our answer might be, that she might evince a better 
feeling through her public journals. Let the fault of the 
" fourth estate " be atoned for by the " fourth estate." To 
condemn a whole nation because a part of her public press 
pandered to party views, would be to censure our own nation, 
for our press was equally at fault. A better criterion to judge 
by, let him suggest, would be, the feelings reciprocated by the 
people of the two nations in their individual intercourse with 
each other, here, in Canada, and in England ; and he thought 
we might gather, even from the present occasion of our meet- 
ing together, that England and England's Queen, our common 
mother, and the United States, her eldest daughter, are not, 
after all, on such l)ad terms as some Avould have it supposed. 

Why England's interference should be so much talked of, 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 167 

and France, who has evinced more disposition to do so, should 
escape the censure of America, might, at first sight, seem 
strange; but he (Mr. Bay) presumed it might 'easily be ac- 
counted for in the fact that gratitude to France for the aid she 
afforded this nation in her struggles for independence, and a 
remembrance of the wrongs which led the people of the colonies 
to withdraw their allegiance from Great Britain, still exerted 
its influence in the heart of the American nation. He said, 
wrongs ; for while Englishmen now .enjoyed the blessings of 
free institutions and good governtnent, under the rule of a 
Queen who governs by and through her people, he (Mr. Day) 
was free to admit that there were periods in her history, when 
Englishinen, whether as colonists or otherwise, had just reason 
to complain of the misrule of the government. 

Mr. Day then, as well on behalf of the Saint George's So- 
ciety, as for himself personally, expressed his thanks to the 
Maine Historical Society for the invitation as their guest on 
this interesting occasion, and the extreme pleasure he had 
experienced in participating in that day's ceremonies, com- 
memorative of the founding of the first colony on these shores, 
by George Popham and his companions, in 1607. He added, 
that to tread on the sacred soil where the bones of our common 
ancestors found their resting-place, after having laid the foun- 
dation on this continent of those blessed and inestimable insti- 
tutions, political and religious, the fruits of which we find 
now so extensively scattered over these States of America, — 
to have had the privilege on that day of listening to the inter- 
esting speech which our talented orator of the day (John A. 
Poor, Esq.,) had so ably delivered to us under the auspices of 
our estimable society, containing so much of historical detail 
affecting the past and future interests of the Old as well as the 
New World ; and to participate on that day in the performance 
of the solemn and original religious services of the Church of 
the period of the founding of this colony, so devoutly per- 



168 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

formed by tlie Right Reverend Bishop of the Anghcaii Episco- 
pal Church ; and above all, to be permitted to unite in the 
imposing Masonic ceremonies, with which we had that day 
laid the stone in memory of George Popham, as the first Eng- 
lish colonist, as a part of the work in tlie erection of the fort 
to bear his name, and intended as a defense of our country's 
constitution, constituted for him that day an event in his life 
which would ever remain with him in pleasing remembrance. 

He expressed a hope that such interchanges of good feeling 
as he had that day experienced at our hands, might be perpet- 
uated between the sons of Old and New England, and never 
be marred by differences that would lead to hostilities against 
the mother country, in which the defenses of that fort, con- 
taining the memorial stone erected to George Popham, would 
require to be brought into exercise. 

In conclusion, h& asked permission to express an impromptu 
sentiment, that suggested itself to him during the interesting 
ceremony of laying the stone, and which he had at the mo- 
ment committed to paper : 

" May this fort be used rather as a shield to protect the remains of the 
revered George Popham, and his associates, whose bones are here deposited, 
than as a bulwark of defense against England as your foe ; or as an instrument 
of destruction to England's fleets." 



Richard Vines, — the faithful friend of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, whose occupation 
of the country, to the time of his appointment as Deputy Governor of the 
" Province of Mayne,"in 1644, upheld the title of his nation against the French, 
and saved New England to his country. 

The Hon. E. E. Bourne, of Kcnncbunk, was prepared to 
speak in reply to this sentiment. The want of time prevented 
this purpose, and his intended remarks have since been fur- 
nished, as follows : 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 169 

JUDGE bourne's ADDRESS. 

The history of the early settlements on the coast of Maine 
has recently excited and received much attention. . A new im- 
petus has been given to the study of it l)y the arduous and 
efficient labors of some of the members of the Historical So- 
ciety, particularly by those of its president, Mr. Willis, Mr. Sew- 
all, of Wiscasset, Mr. Poor, and of the authors of various local 
histories. Our children had grown up, under the instruction 
of their fathers, in the belief that those who landed at Plym- 
outh in 1620, and made an abiding habitation there, were 
the ^rst settlers of New England, — the first occupants of its 
soil. This impression has so fastened itself on the public mind 
that it will take many years to remove it. Yet I have no hes- 
itation as to the assertion, that the progress making in that 
direction will, in due time, come to that result. More light is 
yet to break out from the revelations of the archives of an- 
tiquity. These extended shores, these islands, these rivers, 
there mountains, are yet to impart new knowledge to the his- 
torical inquirer ; knowledge, too, which will be satisfying to 
the candid seeker for truth. By the facilities now afforded in 
England, by the frequent publication of manuscripts over 
which the dust of ages has accumulated, and the republication 
of books, almost lost to the world, developments are being 
made, which will bring very efficient aid to every one who may 
choose to embark in the work of bringing to the light of day 
the material facts of the early occupation of our territory. 

It is not to be denied that an immense field for labor and 
useful and interesting employment is yet before us. Amidst 
the conflicting claims of discoverers and occupiers of different 
portions of our State, much material truth has been shorn of 
its power, and still more has been lost from the inadequacy of 
any then existing agencies for its preservation. There was no 
printing press on these shores till 1738. The historical student 



170 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

1 

will find unlimited room for the exercise of his powers of pa- 
tient and discriminating research in the recovery and applica- 
tion of important facts, which may yet be deduced from such 
books, records, and documents as have survived the ravages of 
time. Though not pecuniarily profitable, such pursuits are 
wonderfully absorbing, — and any man who will give his 
soul to the investigation, may yet, in due time, come before the 
public, " bringing his sheaves with him." 

There are difficulties and obstructions, much marvelous, un- 
satisfactory and contradictory history to be encountered, recon- 
ciled, and explained. But tliese perplexities and embarrassments 
only give zest to research and investigation. They enlarge,the 
space for deep thought and patient and persevering examination. 
A work has lately fallen into my hands, published in London in 
1687, entitled, " The Present State of His Majesty's Isles and 
Territories in America," a duodecimo of some three hundred' 
pages. Those, Avho have the world of literature at hand, may 
be familiar with tliis work. But to me much of its revelations 
are new. Some things are stated, in relation to the events 
which we come here to commemorate, whicli I have found in 
no other publication. Tlie author had some source of infor- 
mation other than Strachey. The following passage, while it 
clearly sustains this position, })resents one important fact which 
I find nowhere else : " There being much time spent in the 
discovery of this country, and not without expense in the set- 
ting forth of ships, and fliat not without the loss of several 
men's lives, before it could be brought to perfection, but at 
length in the year 1607, Sir John Popham and others, settled 
a plantation at the mouth of the river Sagadahoc ; but Capt. 
James Davis having chosen a small place, almost an island, to 
set down in, where, having heard a sermon, read their patent 
and laws, and after he had built a fort, sailed further up the 
river and country, where, finding an island that had a great 
fall of water, and having hauled their boat over with a rope. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 171 

they came to another fall, "vvliich, by reason of its being very 
shallow and swift, proved impassable ; the head of the river 
lying in about forty-five degrees. They call their fort, St. George, 
Capt. George Popliam being President ; and the people seemed 
much affected with our men's devotion, and would say, ' King 
James is a good King, and his God a good God, but our God 
Tanto a naughty God,' which is the name of the evil spirit 
which haunts them every new moon, and makes them worship 
him for fear ; he commanded them not to converse nor come 
near the English, threatening to kill some of them if they did, 
and inflict sickness upon others, if they disobeyed him, begin- 
ning Avith two of their Sagamores, or king's children, affirming 
he had power to do the like against the English, and would, 
the next new moon, execute it upon them. In January, in 
the space of seven hours, they had thunder, lightning, rain, 
frost, and snow, all in very great abundance. There is likewise 
found a bath, so hot for two miles aljout, they cannot drink of 
it. One of the Indians, for a straw hat and knife, stript him- 
self of his cloathing, wdiicli was beaver, skins worth in England 
50s. or 3c£, to present them to the President, only leaving him- 
self a piece to cover his nudities." This account, though ac- 
cording with Strachey in some of its statements, contains other 
facts, of which he makes no mention. But the most material, 
which I have met with in no other work, is the existence of 
the hot water bath, " two miles about." Now where was this 
remarkable spring ? 

I have alluded to these statements merely to show that the 
demand for historic labor, in this immediate field, is not yet 
satisfied. None of these mysteries in the books make the 
study of true history less attractive and absorbing. They af- 
ford more cogent reasons for persevering investigation ; room 
for useful mental exercise. 

These remarks, it may be well said, have but an exceedingly 
remote relation to the sulrject of the toast to which I intended 



172 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

to respond. But the new occasion suggests so many interest- 
ing inquiries ; so many and various thoughts rush in upon the 
mind, that we cannot repress the impulse to deviate from any 
prescribed etiquette. There can be no organism of discourse 
to which one can be confined. 

The emigrants to the shores of New England came hither 
under the impulse of widely different motives. Those of Plym- 
outh, as well as those of Massachusetts, came over " to ad- 
vance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the 
liberties of the gospel in purity, with peace." I do not think 
that those who landed on the shores of Maine were moved in 
the enterprise by any such considerations. The adventurers 
to Sagadahoc enjoyed all such liberties in the home country. 
They were believers in the regime of the Church of England, 
and were under no necessity of self-expatriation for conscience 
sake. They came here for the extension of British dominion 
and the advancement of their pecuniary interests. Mr. Fol- 
som's remark, that they had not " a tithe of the energy of those 
who landed at Plymouth," seems to me without foundation, in 
the fact on which he bases this charge. We all understand the 
obstinacy and pertinacity of religious feeling and opinion. — 
Many, and perhaps a large majority of Christian men, would 
submit to martyrdom, rather than forego their free enjoyment. 
The Plymouth adventurers are worthy of all honor and rever- 
ence for their fidelity to Christian principle. But there is no 
evidence that they were possessed of more fortitude and energy 
than those who landed at Sagadahoc, Saco, or any where else 
,on the coast. The objects of the several expeditions were very 
unlike in their value and moral force. Popham, Vines and 
others landed in Maine for pecuniary and political considera- 
tions only, — and these will require no man to expose himself 
to the hazard which a religionist might even cheerfully en- 
counter, to meet the demands of his spiritual convictions. 

But as to courage and enterprise, Richard Vines, who be- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 173 

gaii a settlement at Saco, in 1617, may well compare with the 
planters at Plymouth. It must be rememhered that these plant- 
ers were, in no sense, the first persons to brave the terrors and 
deprivations of the New World. They had been enlightened 
by the experience of the previous occupants at Sagadahoc and 
Saco. The colonists at both of these places had passed un- 
harmed through the severities of winter, unmolested by the 
savage triljes, avIio then roamed over and claimed the whole 
territory. So far as previous history gave any manifestations, 
it had divested the expedition to New England of its most ap- 
palling terror. There was not necessarily any danger in Indian 
propinquity and association. In no very limited .sense, the 
Pilgrims at Plymouth entered into the labors of others. 

That much was accomplished by Vines, to open the way for 
a permanent settlement of the shores of Maine and to secure 
the territory to England, there can be no doubt ; while at the 
same time, there is some reason for the supposition, that the 
occupation by him of the territory of Winter Harbor, in 
1616-17, may have been continued. There is no evidence of 
a total abandonment of it. He made several voyages to Eng- 
land and transported colonists just after this time. Several of 
these made an abiding settlement on Little River, within the 
borders of Kennebunkport. Very probably some of them were 
his companions in their hibernation of 1616. We have every 
reason for thinking that he carried out the oltject of his mis- 
sion. Gorges had sent him to secure the possession by coloni- 
zation ; and he makes record of the fact that he had met with 
good success, and that in consequence of this success, he had 
made another settlement at Agamenticus. Subsequently, in 
1629, in consequence of the skillful and effective exertions of 
Vines, a grant was made to him and Oldham of a tract of land 
of great extent on the west side of Saco River. 

It has been said that the prevalence of the plague, or what- 
ever else may have been the character of the distemper, by 



174 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

which, just before the arrival of tlic Plymouth colonists, vast 
numbers of the savages were swept away, was an auspicious in- 
terposition of Providence for the safety of those emigrants. 
Undoubtedly it was so. But Yincs and his little colony at 
Winter Harbor, in 1616-17, in addition to the appalling dan- 
gers from savage jealousy and vengeance, had also to encounter 
this most fearful and destructive enemy. They might have 
disembarked and escaped from the contagion ; but these fear- 
less and indomitable spirits were not moved to any such aban- 
donment. They persevered in the grand purpose for which 
they were sent. If ever man had reason for abandoning an 
enterprise, surely Vines had at this time. He was here when 
this wasting disease was raging with fearful power all through 
the country, and sweeping off the humanity of the land with 
great rapidity. It seized on th6 adventurers. Yet, says Gor- 
ges, " Yines, and others with him, continued with the sick and 
dead in their cabins, and not one of them ever felt their heads 
ache while they stayed there." 

Yines was a physician, and perhaps his professional knowl- 
edge was of essential service in this trying emergency. But 
whatever influences were brought to bear on their condition, 
the strangers survived the ravages of the disease, and placed 
themselves in position, so as to set about the objects of their 
enterprise. He visited the sea coast and traded with the French 
at the east, and did what was necessary to lay the foundation 
of title to the territory of a considerable portion of Maine. He 
also went into the interior, and so prudently dem,eaned himself 
everywhere, that he was kindly and hospitably received by the 
Indians in their wigwams, and afterwards maintained a free 
intercourse with them. After the base treachery, whereby some 
of the natives had been seized and carried away from their 
home in the forests to the shores of Europe, the fellowship of 
the Indians was to be treated with extreme delicacy and pru- 
dence. But Yines probably never lost favor with them in the 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 175 

area of his operations. We do not assert the permanency of 
the occupation of 1617, but the action of this period, undoubt- 
edly, was the initiation of the sul)sequent settlement. Nothing 
appears in the history of their stay at Winter Harbor, which 
would render it probable that they left in the ensuing season. 
The grant to Vines a few years afterwards, in this immediate 
locality, must have been induced by some more beneficial ser- 
vices in behalf of the Lord Proprietor, and asked for by Vines 
from some further knowledge of its prospective value, than are 
exhibited in the concise account which we have of their sojourn 
there during one winter. But at any rate he was there a few 
years afterwards, — and there, too, from previous knowledge 
and occupancy, — making his home in Saco till his departure 
for Barbadoes in 1646. 

In 1636, he, with five associates, was appointed a Councilor of 
the Province of New Somersetshire, as this territory was then 
denominated ; and shortly after, as Gorges, in consequence of 
home complication, seemed to the colonists to have forgotten 
them, he was elected Deputy Governor, which office he held 
while he remained in the country. He was an energetic and 
enterprising man, intent on the purposes of discovery, and of 
using it for the security of the title of the home proprietor and 
the advancement of civilization. In 1642, he went up the 
Saco River in a birch canoe, ascended the White Mountains, 
making quite an accurate survey of heights and distances, con- 
sidering that his pathway by water as well as by land, was 
through unbroken forests. On this expedition he was gone 
fifteen days. It is said by Winthrop that some one else from 
Exeter had made the ascent the year before. Whether he was 
the first or second adventurer on the ascent, the tour through 
the wilderness is indicative of a fearless and resolute spirit. 

Having but a very limited knowledge of him before his em- 
barkation to this country, I am unable to speak of him more 
particularly, excepting merely to add, that in his commission 



176 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

as Councilor lie was denominated Steward General. Of the 
import of that denomination, or the province of the office, I 
am not apprised. He was evidently a man of high character 
and of reliable efficiency ; was a stannch Episcopalian, and a 
friend of temperance, though not adopting the standard of the 
reformers of the present day. Almost the first act in the per- 
formance of his official functions, was an order restraining the 
use of intoxicating liquors. Much of his success was undoul^t- 
edly due to his temperate habits. I think we may well regard 
him as in advance of the civilization of the age. 

Fhjmouth Plantation, — founded by men of strong faith, of earnest piety ; 
educated under the teachings of Robinson and Brewster at Leyden, they were 
fitted to become pioneers in the new movement toward civil and religious liberty. 

The following letter has been received from the Hon. Robert 
C. Winthrop of Boston, in reply to the invitation and request 
of the committee : 

HON. MR. WINTHROP'S LETTER. 

Boston, September 8, 1862. 

My Dear Sir, — Absence from home prevented me from 
receiving your obliging communication of the 14th of August, 
until this late day. I am greatly honored by tlie invitation of 
the committee of arrangements for the Historical Celebration 
at Fort Popham ; and it would have given me pleasure to re- 
spond by letter, if not by word of mouth, to the sentiment in 
honor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. 

But the day has passed. The celebration is over. The pub- 
lic journals have already informed us of the interesting pro- 
ceedings and eloquent addresses of the occasion. It only 
remains for me to congratulate you and the committee on the 
success which has attended their efforts, and to express my 
regrets that I was prevented from uniting^ in their commcmo- 



POPIIAM CELEBBATION. 177 

ration of an event so prominently associated with the early 
history of New England. 

With renewed acknowledgments of the compliment intended 
for me, I remain, Dear Sir, 

. Your obliged and obedient servant, 

Eob't C. Winthrop. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary. 

Ncio Jersetj, — where the Northmen of the Scandinavian Peninsula founded 
their first colony in the New World. 

The Hon. W. A. Whitehead, of Newark, N. J., was invited 
to respond to this sentiment. In his inability to attend the 
meeting, he addressed the following letter to the committee : 

HON. MR. whitehead's LETTER. 

New Jersey Historical Society, 
Newark, N. J., August 29th, 1862. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Brunswick, Me. 

Dear Sir : — Not until yesterday did I receive the polite in- 
vitation of your committee to be present at the celebration to- 
day, of the " two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the 
founding of the first English colony on the shores of New 
England," — an event well deserving of commemoration. The 
non-receipt of the invitation in season for me to avail myself of 
it, does not, however, preclude my acknowledging the honor 
conferred, and an expression of my warm sympathy in every 
thing calculated to revive the recollection of what " time hath 
blurred." It would have given me great pleasure, had cir- 
cumstances allowed of my being present. 

I notice that New Jersey is to be honored with a toast on 
the occasion, and I should be pleased to be present to hear how 
the gentleman from whom a response is expected will establish 

13 



178 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

the fact asserted in the toast, that the Scandinavians founded 
their first colony within the limits of the State. I fear that 
he will find it a difficult subject. It is presumed that the col- 
ony referred to is the settlement of the Swedes on the Dela- 
ware in 1638, leading to the occupation of the soil within what 
is now New Jersey, and the erection of Fort Elsenburgh in 
1643, — an interesting episode in the history of the State, 
which has been less studied than it deserves. But to assert 
that this was the first establishment of the Scandinavians in 
the New World, seems to ignore what we have thought to have 
been for some years acknowledged to be beyond doubt, the 
visit of the Northmen to the shores of Massachusetts and 
Rhode Island in 1607, and their residence there for three years 
thereafter. The settlers on the Delaware certainly made a 
more permanent lodgment than those who located in " Vin- 
land ; " but even if priority is to be given to them on this ac- 
count. New Jersey cannot properly lay claim to them, as their 
settlements in Delaware and Pennsylvania ante-date the erec- 
tion of Fort Elsenburgh full five years. 

In this connection it may be remarked, that a supposition of 
a settlement of Scandinavians in the northern part of the State 
at an earlier period than that named for their establishment on 
the Delaware, has found admission into many of our general 
and local histories, based upon the name given to the settle- 
ment at Bergen, — corresponding to that of the capital of Nor- 
way ; — but there are no good grounds therefor. Smith, the 
Provincial historian, is generally referred to as the authority ; 
but all that he says is, that " a few Danes ■were probably con- 
cerned in the original settlement of this county, whence came 
Bergen, after the capital of Norway." Gordon, following, 
and as he thought, improving upon Smith, says, " The Hollan- 
ders were here the pioneers of civilization, aided, probably, 
l)y some Danes or Norweg-ians, who adopted the name of 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 179 

Bergen, from the capital of Norway; " — and others have pre- 
sented simikir suggestions. 

The supposition seems to have originated with Oldmixon, 
"who, in his " British Empire in America," written some twenty 
years before Smith pnbHshed his History of New Jersey, de- 
scribes Bergen County, and adds, " The chief town is Berghen, 
the name of the capital city of Norway, which gives me rea- 
son to doubt whether it ivas not rather Danes than Sivecles 
that first pkmted here ; " his sources of information leading 
him to give to the Swedes the priority over all other Europeans 
in settling New Jersey. " The Dutch," he says, " always in- 
dustrious in trade, worked them so far out of it that Berg- 
hen, the northern part of New Jersey, was almost entirely 
planted by Hollanders." 

I am not aware that any peculiarly Danish or Norwegian 
family names are to be found in Bergen County ; and it may 
be safely assumed that the name was adopted, as others were 
with which they were familiar in the " Faderlandt," because 
of the home reminiscences it awakened ; Bergen, — like " Am- 
sterdam," "Haarlem," "Utrecht," " Bevervyck," &c., — be- 
ing one of the towns of North Holland. It has, however, been 
suggested, that the name had reference to the high ground 
upon which the settlement was made. 

I think, therefore, that the claim set up for New Jersey, as 
the fostering parent of the first Scandinavians, is untenable. 

With thanks for the courtesy extended to me, I remain, 
Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

W. A. Whitehead. 



New Brunsivick, — cotemporaneous with Maine in origin and neighboring in 
territory ; may their bonds of good fellowship never be broken. 

The following letter from tlie Hon. S. L. Tilley of Frederic- 



180 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

ton, N. B., having reference to tlio spirit of this sentiment, is 
here inserted : 

HON. MR. TILLEY'S LETTER. 

Provinclvl Secretary's Office, ) 
Fredericton, N. B., August 22d, 1863. ] 

Sir, — I have delayed answering the invitation from the 
Executive Committee of the public Historical Celebration to 
commemorate the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of 
the founding of the first' English colony on the shores of New 
England, in the hope that I could make such arrangements as 
would enable me to accept it. 

I will be compelled to be at Quebec on the tenth of Septem- 
ber as a delegate from the Government of this Province to 
confer with delegates from the Governments of Canada and 
Nova Scotia in relation to the construction of an Inter-colonial 
Railway ; and were I to go to " Fort Popham " on the 29th 
inst., the two engagements would cause an absence from the 
Province of more than three weeks, — more time than I can 
possibly spare. 

Please present to the committee my sincere thanks for their 
invitation. 

Not to be able to meet with you I consider a great privation. 
I hope to prevail upon some member of our government to go 
on. Apart from the special object for which the celebration 
was agreed upon, I trust it will create and strengthen friendly 
relations between the English race on both sides of our lines ; 
and that no other feelings should ever exist is the sincere 
desire of Your obedient servant, 

S. L. Tilley. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 181 

Sir William FJdps, — the ship carpenter of Woolwich, — the bold seaman and 
adventurer, the Baronet, the successful General and Governor. His life and 
character illustrated the spirit and genius of New England. 

The Rev. Francis Norwood, pastor of the Congregational 
Church in Phipsburg, in which town is embraced the Peninsula 
of Sabino, has furnished the following communication : 

THE REV. MR. NORWOOD'S SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 
OF SIR WILLIAM PHIPS. 

Sir William Phips, Governor of Massachusetts, was born in 
the southern part of "Woolwich, near a little bay, still called 
Phips's Bay, February 2, 1650, thirty years after the landing 
of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and forty-three after the English 
settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec. 

He was the son bf James Phips, a native of Bristol, England, 
and one of a family of twenty-six children and twenty-one sons. 
His father dying when he was young, he spent the first eighteen 
years of his life with his mother, engaged in agricultural em- 
ployments. At the end of this time he served an apprentice- 
ship of four years with a ship carpenter, and became master of 
the trade. Whereupon, at the age of twenty-two, he removed 
to Boston, influenced by the greater advantages there furnished 
for the prosecution of his business. 

Surprising as it may now seem, it was during his first year's 
residence in Boston, and while engaged in the business of his 
trade, that he learned to read and write. He pursued his 
trade of ship carpenter one year in Boston, at the end of which, 
having established a good name and character, he marries an 
estimable lady, the widow of one John Hall, a Boston mer- 
chant. Shortly after this, he contracts with persons in Boston 
to build them a ship in his native village, two leagues from the 
Kennebec. 

Just as this was completed, and lie was about to take in a 



182 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

load of lumber, the Indians made a murderous assault upon 
the inhabitants ; and he, to save them, left his lading, took 
them on board and gave them a free passage to Boston. 

Notwithstanding, however, the partial failure of this enter- 
prise by reason of the loss of his lumber, he was not discour- 
aged, but would frequently tell his wife that he should yet be 
captain of a king's ship, and owner of a fair brick house in the 
Green Lane of North Boston. Such were the visions that 
floated before his mind, like the dreams of Joseph in his youth- 
ful days ; a common indication and accompaniment of aspiring- 
genius. 

Hearing, about this time, of a Spanish wrecl^ on the coast 
of the Bahamas, he sails there to make explorations, and from 
thence to England, where he made such representations at 
White Hall, that in the year, 1683, he became the captain of a 
king's ship, Algier Rose, a frigate of eighteen guns and ninety- 
five men. 

In this ship he sails to the Bahamas in search of the buried 
treasures. But after long delays and the experience of many 
hardships and dangers, the crew mutinied once and again, 
compelling him to return to England, that he might make the 
necessary preparation for another voyage of discovery. Arriv- 
ing there, his wishes are again seconded ; another ship is fur- 
nished and he returns to prosecute his enterprise. 

While at the supposed place of the buried wreck; viz., a 
reef of shoals a few leagues to the ■ northward of Port de la 
Plata, upon Hispaniola, and in the very act of exploration, a 
sea feather is spied, and one of the Indian divers was ordered 
to bring it up. Tlie diver bringing up the feather, brought 
with it a surprising story that he saw a number of great gum 
in the watery world below. This led to renewed and enlivened 
activity, till at length they secured thirty-two tons of silver, 
with much gold, pearls, and jewels, all drawn up forty feet 
from the sunken wreck, and that without the loss of a man's 
life. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 183 

But ])y this sudden and unexampled prosperity, Capt. Pliips 
was greatly embarrassed and perplexed. His crew had been 
hired on seamen's wages, at so much a month. When, there- 
fore, they saw such vast litters of silver sows and pigs, as they 
called them, come on board at the captain's call, they were dis- 
satisfied and threatened to rise and take the ship and divide 
the treasures among themselves. 

In this terrible distress. Captain Phips made a vovj unto Al- 
mighty God, " that if he would carry him safely home to Eng- 
land with what he had now given him, he would forever devote 
himself to the interests of the Lord Jesus Christ and of his 
people in New England." At the same time he sought to con- 
ciliate his men by kindness of deportment and by assuring them 
that they should be amply remunerated, though obliged him- 
self to distribute his own share among them. Thus quiet and 
confidence were restored, and he, returning to England, came 
up to London in the year 1687, with nearly 300,000 poimds 
sterling aboard, in our money, $1,500,000. 

'iSucli, however, was his honesty in fulfilling his promises to 
his seamen and in making exact returns to his employers, that 
he received as his part only about 16,000 pounds, in our money, 
$80,000. At the same time the Duke of Albemarle made his 
wife, whom he had never seen, the present of a golden cup, 
worth 1000 pounds, in our money, 15000. The King, also, 
King James II., in consideration of the skill, energy, and en- 
terprise displayed in this undertaking, and of the service done 
by him in bringing such a treasure into the nation, conferred 
on him the honor of Knighthood ; the first honor, it is believed, 
conferred on a native American. 

In the next year, 1688, he was appointed by the King, High 
Sheriff of the country ; and having made a second visit to the 
wreck, though with little pecuniary benefit, he returned to New 
England to fulfil the promise made to his wife of building a 
fair brick house in the Green Lane of North Boston. 



184 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Two years after, having now passed through varied scenes 
of self-discipline and prosperity, at the age of forty, he felt 
himself called npon to make a profession of his faith in Christ 
and to unite with the North Congregational Church in Boston, 
of which the Rev. Cotton Mather was pastor. 

As it may be instructive and profitable to know and remem- 
ber what were the vieius and practices of the Congregational 
churches of this country at that time, 1690, these, with few ex- 
ceptions, being the only churches then in existence in New 
England, I give the following statements in the very words of 
the Rev. Cotton Mather, the distinguished minister of Sir Wm. 
Phips : 

" It has been ever the custom in the churches of New Eng- 
land to expect from such persons, as they admit into constant 
communion with them, that they do, not only publicly and sol- 
emnly declare their consent unto the covenant of grace, and 
particularly to those duties of it wherein a church state is more 
immediately concerned, but also first relate unto the pastors, 
and by them unto the lirethren, the special impressions which 
the grace, of God has made upon their souls in bringing them 
to this consent. By this custom and caution, though they can- 
not keep hypocrites from their fellowship, yet they go, as far as 
they can, to render and preserve themselves churches of saints, 
and edify one another. 

" When Sir William Phips was now returned to his own 
house he began to think himself, like David, concerning the 
house of God ; and accordingly applied unto the North Church 
in Boston, that by an open profession of the Lord Jesus, he 
might have the ordinances and privileges of the gospel added 
to his other enjoyments. One thing that quickened his resolu- 
tion in this matter, was a passage heard from a minister, preach- 
ing from the fifty-first Psalm ;.viz., this, ' to make a public and 
open profession of repentance, is a thing not misbecoming the 
greatest man alive. It is an honor to be found among the re- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 185 

penting people of God, though they be in circumstances never 
so full of suffering.' " 

" Upon this excitation Sir William Phips made his address 
unto a Congregational Church, and had therein one thing to 
propound unto himself, which fe^y persons of his ago so well 
satisfied of infant baptism as he was, have then to ask for. In- 
deed, in the primitive times, although the lawfulness of infant 
baptism was never so much as made a question, yet we find 
baptism was frequently delayed by persons for superstitious rea- 
sons. But Sir William Phips had hitherto delayed his baptism 
because the years of his childhood were spent where there was 
no settled minister ; and therefore he was now not only willing 
to attain a good satisfaction of his own internal and practical 
Christianity, before he received the mark of it, but he was 
willing to receive it among those Christians that seemed most 
sensible of the bonds which it laid them under. 

" Offering himself, therefore, first unto the haptisin, and then 
unto the Supper of the Lord, he presented unto the pastor of 
the church, in his own hand-writing the following instrument ; 
which, because of the exemplary devotion therein expressed, 
and the remarkable history which it gives of several occurren- 
ces in his life, I shall herewith faithfully transcribe, without 
adding' to it so much as one vjordP Here, then, we have an 
account of Sir William Phips's religious experience in his own 
Avords : 

" The first of God's making me sensible of my sins was in 
the year IGT-l," (in his twenty-fourth year), " by hearing your 
father, (Dr. Increase Mather, President of Harvard College), 
preach concerning ' The day of trouble near.' 

" It pleased Almighty God to smite me with a deep sense of 
my miserable condition, who had lived until then in the world, 
and had done nothing for God. I did then begin to think 
ivkat I should do to he saved? and did l^ewail my youthful 
days, which I had spent in vain. I did think I woiild begin 
to mind the things of God. 



186 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

" Being then sometime under your father's ministry, much 
troubled with my burden, but thinking on that scripture, 
' Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest,' I had some thought of drawing as near to the 
communion of the Lord's table as I could. But the ruins 
which the Indian wars iDrought on my affairs, and the entan- 
glements which my following the sea laid upon me, hindered 
my pursuing the welfare of my own soul as I ought to have 
done. At length God was pleased to smile upon my outward 
concerns. 

" The various providences, both merciful and afllictive, which 
attended me in my travels, were sanctified unto me, to make 
me acknowledge God in all my ways. I have divers times 
been in danger of my life, and have been brought to see that 
I owed my life to Him that hath given a life so often to me. I 
thank God, he hath brought me to see myself altogether un- 
happy, without any interest in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to 
close heartily with him, desiring him to execute all his offices 
o\\ my behalf. 

" I have now, for sometime, been under serious resolutions, 
that I would avoid whatever I should know to be displeasing 
to God, and that I would serve him all the days of my life. I 
believe no man will repent of the service of such a master. I 
find myself unable to keep such resolutions ; but my serious 
prayers are to the Most High, that he would enable me. God 
hath done so much for me that I am sensible I owe myself to 
him. To 1dm loould I give myself and all that he has given 
mo. I can't express his mercies to me. But as soon as God 
had smiled upon me with a turn of my affairs, I had laid my- 
self under the vows of the Lord that I would set myself to 
serve his people and churches here, unto the utmost of my 
capacity. 

" I have had great offers made to me in England, but the 
churches of New England were those my heart was most set 



POrilAM CELEBRATION. 18T 

upon. I knew that if God had a people anywhere, it was here. 
And I resolved to rise ov fall with them ; neglecting very great 
advantages for my Avorldly interest, that I might come to enjoy 
the ordinances of the Lord Jesus here. 

" It has been my troiilile that since I came home, I have 
made no more haste to get into the house of God, where I de- 
sire to 1)0 ; especially having heard so much about the evil of 
that "omission. I can do little for God, but I desire to wait 
upon him in his ordinances, and to live to his honor and glory. 

" ' My being born in a part of the country where I had not, 
in my infancy, enjoyed the first sacrament of the New Testa- 
ment, has been something of a stumbling block to me. But 
though I have had proffers elsewhere made to me, I resolved 
rather to defer it, until I might enjoy it in the communion of 
these churches. And I have had awful impressions from those 
words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew viii. 38 : ' Whosoever shall 
be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of 
Man be ashamed.' When God hath blessed me with something 
of the world, I had no trouble so great as this, lest it should 
not 1)0 in mercy, and I tremble at nothing more than being put 
off with a portion here. 

" That I may make sure of better things, I now offer myself 
unto the conmiunion of this church of the Lord Jesus." 

"Accordingly on March 23, 1690, after he had given himself 
up, first unto the Lord, and then \uiio his people, he was bap- 
tised, and so received into the communion of the faithful there." 

Most men, situated as he was, possessed of al)undant wealth 
and the recipient of distinguished honor, woidd have sought 
exemption from the cares and responsibilities of imhlic life. 
But a desire for personal ease and aggrandisement was not the 
feeling which possessed and ruled his breast. His aim was to 
do good and be useful while he lived in the world. 

" Often," says his pastor, " about, before, and after this time, 
have I heard him express himself after this mannner : ' I have 



188 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

no need at all to look after any furtlier advantages for myself 
in this world. I may sit still at home, if I will, and enjoy my 
ease for the rest of my life. But I believe I should offend God 
in doing so. For I am now in the prime of my age and strength, 
and I thank God, I can undergo hardship. He only knows 
how long I have to live ; but I think 'tis my duty to venture 
my life in doing good, before a useless old age comes upon me. 
Wherefore I shall now expose myself, while I am able and as 
far as I am able, for the service of my country, I was born 
for others, as well as myself.' " 

Accordingly, in the spirit of these remarks, he made to the 
General Court of Massachusetts the offer of his own person 
and esiate in invading Canada ; believing that the Indians, in 
their frequent murderous assaults, were set on by the inhabi- 
tants of that country ; that we could have no peace with the 
Indians till Canada was conquered. , 

Hence a naval expedition against the French, with about 
seven hundred men, under the conduct of Sir William Phips, 
was entered upon, and proved victorious in the capture and 
sulyugation of Nova Scotia. 

This led on to a second expedition against Quebec, with a 
fleet of thirty-two ships and two thousand men, all under Sir 
William Phips, as general and commander-in-chief in and 
over their Majesty's forces of New England by sea and land. 
If success did not attend this expedition, it was not owing to 
any want of ability in the commander, but mainly to the late- 
ness of the season, and the want of cooperation by troops 
ordered to come down from the lakes. To pay the soldiers 
and seamen engaged in this invasion of Quebec, the General 
Court issued bills of credit, and thus originated that si/stem of 
credit and bills of credit, which has ever since been in use in 
this country. 

About this time James II., hated by the English nation, on 
account of his Romanism and tyranny, was driven from his 



rOPHAM CELEBRATION. 189 

throne by William of Orange, and that despotic governor, 
Edmund Andros, who liad long been the scourge of New Eng- 
land, was deposed. Dr. Increase Mather being then in Eng- 
land to obtain redress for the grievances of his country, and 
being requested by the king to nominate a worthy person for 
governor, presented the name of Sir William Phips, saying in 
his address to the king, — "he hath done a good service for 
the crown by enlarging your dominions, and reducing Nova 
Scotia to your obedience. I know lie will faithfully serve 
your Majesty to the utmost of his capacity ; and if your 
Majesty see fit to confirm him in that place, it will confer a 
great favor on your subjects there." 

The effect of this was, that Sir William Phips was invested 
with a coiiimission under the king's broad seal to be Captain- 
General and Governor-in-Chief over the Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay. Accordingly, having with Mr. Mather kissed 
the king's hand, on January 3d, 1691, he departed, and ar- 
rived in New England the May following, welcomed with the 
loud exclamations of that long shaken and shattered country. 
On his arrival, the Great and General Court of the Province 
appointed a day of solemn thanksgiving' to Almighty God for 
the safe return of his excellency the Governor. 

Suffice it to say, that for three years he faithfully and suc- 
cessfully discharged the duties of this high office, in a way 
that greatly promoted the prosperity of the people, and secured 
their highest commendation. 

At the end of this time, by request of the king, he visited 
England, and while in London was seized with a cold, which 
proved a sort of malignant fever, terminating in his death, 
after a few days, on the IStli of February, 1694, in the forty- 
fourth year of his age. With due honor, his remains were 
buried in the Church of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, — New 
England mourning over his early departure as a public calam- 
ity, and embalming in grateful affection his virtues and his 
deeds. 



190 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

In personal appearance, he was tall and commanding, of 
features comely and symmetrical, courteous and dignified in 
manners, and of amiable and generous disposition. He was 
characterized by indomitable perseverance, evinced in over- 
coming the difficulties of his neglected education, in pressing 
his way from humble mediocrity to elevated positions in so- 
ciety, in the prosecution of his voyages against great obstacles, 
and in the resolute discharge of high official duty. 

His capacity for business is shown in the success which 
attended his enterprises, as ship-carpenter, sea-captain, com- 
mander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces by land and sea, high 
sheriff, and governor. As evidence of his courage, it is related 
of him, that when he was captain of the Algier Rose, his men 
mutinied, and approached him on the quarter deck with drawn 
swords in hand, demanding that he should join them in prose- 
cuting a voyage of piracy. Whereupon Capt. Phips, though 
wholly unarmed, yet with most undaunted courage, rushed in 
among them, and, with blows of his bare hands, felled many 
of them, and quelled all the rest. When asked what made 
him so little afraid of dying, his answer was, "I do humbly 
believe the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood for me to procure 
my peace with God, Why, then, should I be afraid of dying ? " 
At the same time, he was a man of real, unsophisticated mod- 
est// and humilitjj. Though springing from a low condition, he 
never seemed proud and haughty, and would very gladly have 
dispensed with many of the official forms and ceremonies^ 
which custom had sanctioned. 

On his return to this country, loaded with wealth and honor, 
he made a splendid feast to the ship-carpenters of Boston, in 
commemoration of God's favor to him, who had been himself 
a ship-carpenter. When sailing in sight of Kennebec, with 
armies under his command, he would call the young soldiers 
and sailors upon deck, and speak to them after this fashion : 
" Young men, it was upon that hill I kept sheep a few years 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 101 

ago ; and since you sec Almighty God has brought mc to 
something, do you learn to fear God, and be honest, and mind 
your business, and follow no bad courses, and you don't know 
what you may come to." 

The Christian temper of forgiveness was remarkably dis- 
played in his life. Says his pastor: " I never saw three men 
in this world that equalled him in his wonderfully forgiving 
spirit. In the vast variety of his business, he met with many 
and mighty injuries ; but I never did hear unto this hour, that 
he did ever once deliberately revenge an injury. Under great 
provocations, he would commonly say, ' 'tis no matter, let 
them alone. Some time or other they'll see their weakness 
and rashness, and give me occasion to do them a kindness. 
And they shall see that I have quite forgotten all their ill-treat- 
ment of me.' And in his life there were frequent verifications 
of this remark." 

It was, indeed, the moral elements which laid the foundation 
of all his greatness, and was the croivning excellence of his 
character. I mean his piety, so humble, experimental, solid, 
practical. Not indeed that he made any great display of re- 
ligion, or had any sympathy with those who did, especially if 
they were delinquent in private duties, or wanting in outward 
moralities. 

Still he was honest, faithful, steadfast in his profession ; striv- 
ing to walk in all God's commandments and ordinances blame- 
less ; conscientiously attending upon the exercises of devotion 
and worship ; upon the weekly lectures, as well as the Sabbath 
solemnities ; upon the daily service of morning and evening 
prayer in his own family ; as also upon private meetings of de- 
vout people, held every fortnight in the neighborhood. 

" Besides all this," says his pastor, " when he had any great 
works before him, he would invite good men to come and fast 
and pray with him at his house for success ; and when he had 
succeeded in what he had undertaken, he would prevail with 



192 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

tlicm to come and keep a day of solemn thanksgiving' with him. 
His love to Almighty God was indeed manifest by nothing more 
than his love to those who had the image of God upon them. 
He heartily loved and honored all godly men ; and in so doing 
he did not confine godliness to tins or tliat jiarty. But wherever 
he saw the fear of God in one, of Congregational, Presbyte- 
rian, Baptist, or Episcopal persuasion, he did without any dif- 
ference express towards them a reverend affection.^'' 

But, most of all, he loved and honored Christ's ministers, 
and in proportion as they were faithful and devoted to their 
holy calling. V ■ 

Happy were it for our land, if this religion of apostles, re- 
formers, martyrs, prelates, puritans, had been universally prev- 
alent and predominant in the hearts of ministers and people, 
rulers and ruled, in this our day and in this our land. Then 
had not occurred this civil war which is now dividing and des- 
olating this once happy land, and putting forever in jeopardy 
the cause of free institutions and republican government. 

By our transgressions and our sins we have brought upon us 
the terrible judgments which we suffer. Let us, then, humble 
ourselves before God and repent, each individual and family 
and tribe by itself, and let us return to the good old ways of 
God's Word, as the prophet exhorts, " Stand ye in the ways 
and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, 
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest to your souls." 



The Eastern Coast of New England, — the arena of the conflict of the races, 
where alternated tlie fortunes of the French and English. 

The following communication has been furnished by the 
Hon. George F. Talbot, of Machias, United States Attorney 
for the District of Maine. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 193 

THE HON. MR. TALBOT'S COMMUNICATION. 

INFLUENCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE EASTERN SETTLEMENTS IN FIXING 
THE BOUNDARIES OP THE REPUBLIC. 

That Maine is not now a proYincial dependency of Great 
Britain, instead of an important and influential State in the 
American Republic, is due to causes running back to its earliest 
settlement. It would seem to have been sound policy for the 
British Government, as soon as it became certain that the 
Canadian and Acadian provinces would not join the other prov- 
inces in the revolt against the mother country, to push its fron- 
tiers from its assured possessions on the St. Lawrence and Bay 
of Fundy as far southward and westward as possible: It would 
have been comparatively easy to achieve the permanent con- 
quest of the greater portion of our State, then held by a feeble 
and scattered population, and also of the unsettled portions of 
New England and New York, in which remained considerable 
bodies of Indians, hostile to the frontier settlers. Great Britain 
has long since come to see the advantages to her of the posses- 
sion of a territory now thrust, for three hundred miles almost, 
as a barrier of separation between her upper and lower prov- 
inces. Nor need we wonder that she clung so pertinaciously 
to the argument, which a possible construction of an uncertain 
clause of the treaty of 1783 furnished, to recover a portion of 
the territorial advantages which, as we claimed, she had sur- 
rendered in that treaty. Why then, with such strong interest 
to possess and such ease of acquiring this frontier State, was 
it suffered to pass under the dominion and fortunes of the 
American Republic ? 

History furnishes three causes of this result ; a brief expo- 
sition of which may not be inappropriate to this occasion. 
They are : First, the influence of the nationality of the settlers 
of the frontiers of the countries now foreign to each other ; 
second, the policy under which the war of the Revolution was 

14 



194 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

conducted by the British ministry ; and third, the active par- 
ticipation by the settlers of the coast of Maine in the resistance 
to the British arms. 

It would have been supposed that when, hj the treaty of 
1762, all the colonies on the North Atlantic coast passed under 
the sovereignty of the British crown, that the general system 
of colonial taxation would have been met by a common resis- 
tance in all the provinces to which it was applied. The Con- 
tinental Congress had strong hopes of inducing both Canada 
and Nova Scotia to make common cause with them in the war. 
The invasions of Arnold and Montgomery were undertaken, 
rather with the expectation of rousing allies among the French 
settlers, than of effecting the conquest of the province. Ex- 
peditions, with similar objects, set forth from Maine and Mass- 
achusetts to rouse the whig spirit in the eastern provinces. 
All these enterprises, however, ultimately failed. The provincial 
government, feebly supported hj royal troops, resisted, and the 
mass of the people remained neutral and indifferent. But the 
invasions failed on account of tlie rigor of the climate and the 
breadth of wilderness that separated the continental army 
from its source of supplies. 

The French race had not been electrified with the revolu- 
tionary spirit of a later age. All the instincts of their nation- 
ality, all the principles of their religious faith made them loyal 
and monarchical. If tliey liad participated in a quarrel betAVcen 
a king and his revolted subjects, it could scarcely be on the side 
of the revolt. Besides the long and cruel controversy for domin- 
ion on this continent, a controversy emljittcrcd by the alliance of 
fierce savages, had been between them and the colonies, rather 
than between them and the British nation. There had been a 
chronic hatred and hostility begotten of religious antipathy be- 
twixt the Puritan settlers of New England and the allied 
French and Indian Catholics to the east and north of them, from 
the time that Argal broke up the French settlement at Mount 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 195 

Desert, in 1G13. The colonial authorities had always been 
ready for invasions and expeditions against the French. If 
the wars between France and England w^cre not provoked and 
fomented by them, they entered joyfully into them and fur- 
nished from their scanty population and treasures, men and 
money without stint or complaint ; nor did they always wait 
for actual war, when an opportunity offered to strike a fatal 
blow at an improtected rival settlement. Indeed, the love of 
territorial aggrandizement and the propagandism of the Eng- 
lish name and faith, was far stronger in the town meeting of 
New England than in the British parliament or court. The 
colonies had borne the brunt of the conquest of Canada, and 
exulted over its result far more than the home government, 
which hardly seemed to appreciate its vast advantage to the 
British power. When, then, only twelve years after, a treaty 
had terminated these border wars and feuds, the very people 
most active in the violence, appealed to the conquered provin- 
ces^ still smarting from defeat, for alliance and aid, it is no 
wonder they were received with profound indifference. Thus 
the spontaneous influence of the. Revolution extended no far- 
ther than the animosity and passions out of which it grew, and 
religious and political propagandism extended no farther east- 
ward than Massachusetts. 

Ideas and not interests, ideas and not military or commercial 
necessities, shaped our territorial limits, and gave us our boun- 
daries. The British crown succeeding to the French title, and, 
though quite unnaturally, to the French antipathies, revived 
as against us the old controversy of boundary. It was not set- 
tled by the treaty of 1783, because the limits of Nova Scotia 
itself were not determined ; and not until our own time, and 
by the treaty of 1842, was the line, separating two forms of 
government and two races of people, over which two great na- 
tions had quarrelled for more than two centuries, definitively 
settled, — a line of more political importance on this continent 



196 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

than any otlier, unless the intense domestic agitation that has 
raged over Mason and Dixon^s may have given that a pre- 
eminence. 

But though the line between our possessions and the Eng- 
lish has fallen precisely where the separating line between hos- 
tile political ideas would determine it, it might have been 
changed by military force. As soon as it became settled that 
the people of Canada and Nova Scotia could not be roused to 
sympathy with the revolt, British armies might have been 
massed in those provinces as bases of support, and have pushed 
their frontiers westward and southward towards the centers of 
the continental population. It would seem to have been easy 
to have driven out or subdued the entire population of Maine, 
sparse as it was in 1776. With the possession of Canada on 
the north and Nova Scotia on the east, and an absolute control 
of the sea, resistance to a concerted invasion could scarcely 
have been supported. But the policy of the war as conducted 
by the British ministry, never contemplated the question of 
boundaries. It never contemplated a treaty of separation with 
a part of the colonies, but aimed at the absolute subjection of 
the whole. The English government treated our Revolution 
much the same as we are now treating our own rebellion. Ac- 
cordingly its first campaign was directed against Boston and 
Massachusetts as the head and front of the disaffection, and 
failed on account of the obdurate courage and united hostility 
of New England, which sent enormous quotas to the Revolu- 
tionary armies, while nearly all the people left at home were 
ready to serve as soldiers to resist domestic invasion. Failing 
to crush New England, they next tried to isolate it, to leave it 
out in the cold, and seizing the commercial and political capital 
to break in two the revolutionary confederation. This was the 
second campaign, terminating disastrously in the defeat at 
Saratoga. The last policy was to assault the colonies where 
they were weakest, both in the large percentage of loyalists 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 197 

and the presumed enmity of the slaves, while, though it came 
nearer to success than either of the others, broke down at 
length on account of the languid co-operation of Clinton, and 
the superior strategy of Washington ; and with it failed all 
hope of preventing American independence. 

Disdaining to contend for favorable boundaries, and occupied 
with the vast military plans, only transient and inadequate ef- 
forts were applied to make conquests upon the coasts of Maine. 
Even these, however, came very near success, and in addition 
to the influences I have already considered, it is due to the he- 
roic courage and devoted attachment to the cause of independ- 
ence by the pioneers of eastern Maine, that these remote fron- 
tiers were preserved to the American Union. The burning of 
Falmouth early in the war gave the inhabitants of the coast of 
Maine notice of what their attachment to the Revolution would 
be likely to cost them. The occupation for two years, by the 
royal forces, of the region of Penobscot, would have made that 
the most favorable limit at which a boundary could have been 
established on the return of peace, but for the spirited defense 
which had secured Machias and the eastern settlements to the 
Continental Congress. 

Machias was first settled by Englishmen in May 1763. So 
uncertain at that period were the boundaries between Massa- 
chusetts and Nova Scotia, that the petition for an incorporation 
as a town was addressed to the legislature of the latter prov- 
ince by the people, who supposed themselves within its juris- 
diction. Nova Scotia disclaimed the jurisdiction, and the act 
of incorporation, sent ovit for the king's sanction before the 
Revolution, was not finally passed till after the peace which 
established our national independence in 1784. 

At the breaking out of the war in 1775, less than five hund- 
red people, one-fifth of them, perhaps, capable of bearing arms, 
held this remote frontier settlement, separated from the great 
mass of their countrymen by hundreds of miles of forest, 



198 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

throiigli which were no roads, and by several navigable rivers, 
over which there were no bridges. Their only channel of com- 
mnnication with their government and fellow-citizens was across 
three hundred miles of ocean, swept by the irresistible navies 
of the British king. Their country was not a grain producing 
country ; and turning their attention exclusively to lumbering, 
they depended for subsistence upon the returns of shipments 
of cargo.es of boards to the Boston market. If the ocean was 
open and lumber saleable, they lived and throve. If the ocean 
was shut or lumber unsaleable, they descended to the clam 
beds to ward off instant starvation. " When the war com- 
menced that prostrated this commerce by which they lived, 
there were," as Judge Jones says in a memorial addressed in 
1784 to the Massachusetts General Court, " but three weeks' 
provisions in the place." 

It would be thought, that a people thus isolated and distres- 
sed would have had the least interest in the political questions, 
iipon which king and colonies were about to go to war, — that 
their only thought would have been for their own prosperity 
and preservation, and that they would gladly have accepted the 
powerful protection of the British government for immunity 
for their trade or subsistence for their families. But all such 
pusillanimous considerations were the farthest from their 
thoughts. Instead of being dismayed at the fear of falling the 
first victims to the rage of their incensed sovereign, or appre- 
hensive of suffering or losses to themselves, they were planning 
with patriotic zeal quite disproportionate to their power, how 
to extend the dominions of the Continental Union, and to add 
new provinces to the American Republic. Just after the battle 
of Bunker Hill they suddenly planned and sjilendidly executed 
an attack upon a British armed vessel, pursued down the har- 
bor, thus winning the first naval battle of the Revolution. 

The second year of the war, the people of Machias engaged 
with Jonathan Eddy, who had brought them supplies from Bos- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 199 

ton, to invade Nova Scotia. ^ A mere handful of them started 
eastward, passed the St. John River, and attacked the enemy 
at tlie head of the Bay of Fundy, but being repulsed were 
obliged to retreat through the wilderness a distance of more 
than three hundred miles. Nothing daunted by this reverse, 
they planned a new invasion the next year on a larger scale, 
and were expecting the arrival of stores and continental troops, 
who were to rendezvous at Machias, when the place was at- 
tacked by a British fleet. Sir George Collier commanded the 
expedition, which consisted of two forty-four and one twenty- 
eight gun frigates and an armed brig, and arrived in the har- 
bor August 13th, 1777. The inhabitants raised earth works 
at the junction of the two rivers, stretched a boom across the 
channel, and stationing Indians and musket-men upon the 
banks, gave the invaders so warm a reception that after a two 
days fight they were compelled to retire. Although repeated 
alarms of invasion occurred afterwards, the settlers were left 
in peace for the rest of the war, guarding this frontier post and 
securing our good State for the good cause, while many people 
farther west, who had not even been subjected to invasion, 
were circulating petitions to procure British protection on the 
promise of neutrality. These petitions were sent to Machias 
for signature ; and as Judge Jones's memorial states, " We re- 

1 The spirit of tlie Macliias people is well disclosed in the admirable and pat- 
riotic letter of Rev. James Lyon, the first minister of the place, to Gen. Wash- 
ington, proposing an invasion of Nova Scotia with a thousand men. The learned 
and pious minister naively expresses himself thus : " I should be more at a 
loss fur an able person to conduct the enterprise. I know of fitter persons than 
myself in many respects, but they are strangers to the province and the people. 
But I have dwelt there for many years, and have a personal acquaintance with 
almost all the principal men, and know the country well. I should rejoice, 
therefore, in the appointment to the necessary business, and if your excellency, 
together with those only who must necessarily be acquainted with the appoint- 
ment, in your great wisdom should see fit to appoint me, I will conduct the ex- 
pedition with the utmost secrecy, and (Deo adj.) will add to the dominions of the 
Continental Congress another province, before our enemies are able to defend it." 



200 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

fusing, the steps we took prevented those places, who were in 
favor of it, from falling in, whereby the whole of the country, 
east of Bagaduce, ^ was preserved." 

If it be asked, why these poor eastern settlers entered so 
zealously into a cause, which only promised them sufferings 
and losses ; the answer is, that they were of Puritan ancestry, 
and looked upon Masschusetts, the leading colony of the Rev- 
olution, as their father-land. They were republican ; and in a 
controversy betwixt the king and his people, their sympathies 
were all with the people. In taking this stand they surrendered 
no ancient attachments. For the wars with the French, through 
which their national feelings had become aroused, were quite 
as much wars of the American Colonies as of .the British gov- 
ernment. Some of the eastern settlers had partaken in the 
invasion of Cape Breton and of Canada. When, then, the 
controversy arose with their own sovereign about independence, 
these people cast their fortunes unhesitatingly with the cause 
of the revolutionists, without a thought of its desperation or 
of their own almost assured loss. In revolution, masses of men 
act from passion rather than from interest, nor can any con- 
quests be permanent, that do not carry with them the ideas and 
principles of the conquerors. The Yankee^ whether in east- 
ern Maine or in Nova Scotia, was a natural rebel'; and when 
hostilities broke out against the home government, without 
much regard to his personal safety, he began to plot resistance 
and invasion. It thus happened that the Revolution, and with 
it the boundaries of our republic, extended as far eastward as 
Massachusetts influence and culture extended, and there stop- 
ped, in spite of strenuous efforts to push it farther. 

Nova Scotia, — the earliest battle ground of the races upon this continent ; 
the home of the loyalist in Revolutionary times. Distinguished for the fascina- 
tions of its scenery and its treasures of mineral wealth, but still more distin- 
guished for the intelligence of its people and the ability of its public men. 

1 Now Castine. 



POPHAM CELEBEATION. 201 

The following letter was received from the gentleman invited 
to make a speech in response to this sentiment : 

LETTER FROM THE HON. JOSEPH HOWE. 

Halifax, Nova Scotia, 26tli August, 1862. 

Dear Sir, — I have delayed till .the last moment replying 
to the committee's kind invitation to their proposed celebra- 
tion, in the hope that I might be able to accept it ; and it is 
with great reluctance that I am compelled to decline. Lord 
Mulgrave is absent and I am surrounded by public duties, 
from which I cannot escape for some days, and am then under 
engagement to go to Quebec on an inter-colonial conference. 
Few things would afford me more pleasure than to see and 
hear the leading men of Maine, and to exchange thoughts with 
them on the day, when they meet to decorate the head waters 
of that mighty stream of population, which, it may be under 
different banners, is destined to overflow the continent. 

As I cannot come, I would gladly send a sentiment, and with 
all my heart I say, " May Peace be with you." 
Believe me, my deq,r sir. 

Very truly yours, 

Joseph Howe. 

The Saco, — the home of Vines and companions in 1616, and the first seat of 
justice, in which the forms of the common law were put into practice. 

The Fall of Quebec, — under the leadership of the heroic Wolfe, in 1759, which 
gave peace, security, and progress to the frontier settlements of the colonies, 
and supremacy to English power in North America. 

Pennsylvania, — to whose archives we are indebted for the only exact account 
of Arnold's expedition to Canada. 

The following note from the Right Rev. Dr. Stevens, a native 
of Bath, now Bishop of Pennsylvania, explains why a commu- 
nication on this sentiment could not be furnished : 



202 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

BISHOP Stevens's letter. 

House of Bishops, N. Y., ^ 
October 4, 18G2. \ 

My Dear Sir, — Yours of the 2d inst. has just been received. 

Under the duties which now press upon me, and those which 

will devolve on me in the process of an Episcopal visitation 

immediately after our adjournment here, I shall be unable to 

prepare the desired paper for the interesting volume on the 

Popham Celebration. 

I remain, very truly yours, 

Wm. Bacon Stevens. 

Rev. Edward Ballard. 

The Memory of Governor Sullivan, — the earliest Historian of his native State, 
and the honored Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, of 
which Maine then constituted a part ; his residence on the banks of the Ken- 
nebec fitted him for the study of the earliest annals of our State, and made him 
eminent not only in the department of law and of statesmanship, but of history. 

The following letter from the Hon. Thomas C. Amory, Jr., 
of Boston, was prepared in reply to the request of the com- 
mittee : 

letter of the HON. BIR. AMORY. 

Boston, August 25th, 1862. 

Dear Sir, — I regret exceedingly that my engagements must 
prevent my attending the celebration of the first settlement of 
Maine, and responding to the sentiment in honor of James 
Sullivan, its earliest historian. 

The preservation of whatever related to its ancient annals, 
was with him a constant thought ; and his first contribution to 
the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of which 
he was the first President, was an account of Georgetown, pre- 
pared from what he had been able to collect of its history from 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 203 

his neighbors, when he there commenced, about the year 1768, 
his professional career. ^ 

He selected it as a spot peculiarly favorable to fresh efforts, 
possibly bearing in mind that the flourishing settlements, which 
in his day not only lined the shore but penetrated inland, had 
there their beginning. 

The colony at Georgetown, and also that of Jamestown, in 
Virginia, nine months earlier, experienced gloomy days, over- 
whelming the one and darkening both with disaster. This but 
nerved an enterprising race to more strenuous efforts, which 
eventually were marked with signal success. Maine has now 
a larger population than the whole Commonwealth, when sev- 
enty years ago, my grandfather published his history of the 
District, and nearly equal to that of the Old Dominion, 'out of 
servitude. In her material prosperity, as in the character, 
courage, and intelligence of her people, she compares favorably 
with her twin sister, while in attachment to the principles of 
Washington and Jefferson, she has immeasurably the advan- 
tage over her. 

For the practical application of those principles we have 
been favorably placed, and also fortunate in the character of 
the statesmen who have moulded our opinions and shaped our 
destiny. We were peculiarly fortunate in the influence exer- 
cised over public sentiment by Governor Sullivan and his co- 
temporaries, who, whether republican or federalist, never lost 
faith in the value of free institutions as the greatest of earthly 
blessings. If in his published writings, he attaches more than 
ordinary importance to an unswerving fidelity to constitutional 
obligations, and carries respect for State rights beyond the 
measure of modern politics, if he regarded the harmony and 
union of the States as paramount to all other political consid- 
erations, it was from a faith that the maintenance of our liber- 
ties depended upon union, and from an apprehension tliat in 

1 Mu«s, II. C, vol. 1, p. 251. 



204 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

some moment of irritation we might fatally disarrange that ex- 
cellent system of government, which had been established for 
us by our fathers on mutual compromises. No one abhorred 
slavery more than he did. It is a matter of historical record, 
that when on the bench he mainly contributed to putting an 
end to its Existence in Massachusetts. But he recognized, both 
in the constitutional compact and in the national law, a limit 
to individual responsibility not to be overlooked. 

It might be pleasant to divest the mind of present anxieties, 
in contemplating the interesting events of the long distant past, 
which it is your purpose to commemorate. ' But this is hardly 
to be hoped. No one that loves his country can, for one moment, 
be unmindful of her peril. And if any modern subject is to 
be discussed at your table, I cannot but believe that the spirit 
of my grandfather, Governor Sullivan, would present views of 
the present great issue, that might, if generally received, go 
far to bring about a restoration of our Union, and of our na- 
tional prosperity and independence. I should have been glad 
for this and for the many ways in which he was connected with 
the history of Maine, to have been permitted, before the dis- 
tinguished assemblage this occasion is sure to attract, to re- 
spond to a sentiment in honor of an ancestor, whose memory 
I so deeply revere. It was precisely such an occasion as he 
thought most favorable to the encouragement of historical 
tastes. At the close of the third century from the discovery 
of America, in 1792, after an oration, he entertained the His- 
torical Society and all the historical characters of that day at 
his house, opposite the Revere on Bowdoin Square, in Boston. 
This celebration of the first plantation at the north, so near in 
time to that of Virginia, offers fruitful themes for the sugges- 
tion of associations of common origin and future fellowship, 
which he would have gladly improved if presented in his day. 
Let me hope that some one more able to do justice to his mem- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 205 

ory will be found willing to assume the task which you have 
assigned to me. 

I remain, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Thomas C. Amory, Jr. 
Rev. A. D. Wheeler, D. D., for the Executive Committee. 

Change and Progress, — these make up the history of the world, mental, moral, 
and physical. Slowly were they written upon its pages, till Fulton, Stephen- 
son, Henry, and Morse, solved the problem of intercommunication by steam 
and lightning. 

No report of the speech made by the Hon. Francis 0. J. 
Smith, of Westbrook, has been received by the committee. 

The Heroes of 1776, — may the men of to-day prove themselves worthy to be 
called their sons. 

The Memory of Ex- Governor King. — the first Governor of Maine after she ceased 
to be a Province of Massachusetts, and became one of the States of the Union. 

The pressure of the time prevented the reverend gentleman 
invited, from making a speech in response, and it is now pre- 
sented as a communication. 

WILLIAM KING : FIRST GOVERNOR OP MAINE. 
BY THE REV. JOHN O. FISKE, OF BATH. 

Some of us have had the privilege of learning to-day, more 
than we ever knew before of the character and history of emi- 
nent men connected with the early settlement of our State. 
It is an honor to have descended from worthy ancestors, and 
to tread in the footsteps of illustrious pioneers ; but it would be 
no credit to a people to resemble Dr. South's apple tree, whose 
fruit was intensely sour and bad, but in behalf of which it was 
charitably argued that it had rare excellencies in its roots I 
The inhabitants of the Pine-tree State are driven to no such 



206 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

lame methods of vindicating for themselves an honorable posi- 
tion among the other inhabitants of the country. The great 
man, whose memory it has fallen to my lot to recall to-day, is 
a signal proof that whatever of natural worth or official digni- 
ty may have been concerned in our early colonial history, na- 
ture has not failed to place her broad seal of the truest nobility 
on some of the sons of Maine in later days. 

William King, the first Governor of Maine, was a product 
of the State, and shared the blood of a family whose abilities and 
public services have added historic honor to the annals of our 
country. His father, Richard King, was an eminent merchant 
in Scarboro'. His oldest brother, Rufus, was one of those 
great men, who laid deep and strong the foundations of our 
Republic, and the whole of his long career is a bright page in 
the records of our far-seeing and patriotic statesmen. Another 
brother, Cyrus, was also endowed with superior powers of elo- 
quence and wisdom ; but after a shorter public course, which 
afforded large promise for the future, he died at an early age, 
and sleeps in peace on the banks of the Saco. 

William King was born in Scarboro', February 9, 1 768. His 
early education, unlike that of his brothers to whom I have 
referred, was quite limited, and this deficiency was sensibly felt 
through his life. He resided for a few years in Topsham, 
where he Avas concerned with his brother-in-law. Dr. Porter, in 
a store, and was engaged, laboring with his own hands, in the 
manufacture of luml^er. About the year 1800, he removed to 
Bath, where he resided until his death, which took place June 
17, 1852. 

He was a man whose whole presence and bearing attracted 
attention. His frame was large and well-proportioned, his 
hair and board black, his eyebrows remarkably heavy and over- 
hanging, his eyes keen and burning, his voice deep and agree- 
able. No once could receive his cordial welcome at his house, 
or mark his eagle eye, fixed on the preacher in the house of 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 207 

God, as it was for years my privilege to do, or see him rise to 
address a public meeting, or listen to his ordinary conversation, 
or hardly pass him in the street, without being impressed that 
his was one of those jjrincely and uncommon natures, which 
are formed for great influence in the world. He became ma- 
ture in his intellectual powers at an early age, and from the 
first took his place as an acknowledged superior or equal in 
whatever society he was found. 

He was chosen for some successive years a member of the 
Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives, and in 
the midst of the eminent men of that day was felt to be one of 
the commanding minds of the ►State. One of his speeches, in 
reply to what he regarded as an unhandsome personal attack 
on him by a gentleman of high position and ability, was widely 
commented on at the time for its impressive power. 

Indeed, poiver was the prominent attribute of the man. He 
never made long speeches ; and without the advantages of a 
thorough and polished education, writing was not easy to him. 
He carried his points, not by arts, but by main strength ; not 
by long drawn arguments, nor sonorous periods of eloquence, 
but by a sort of irresistible rush and crushing stroke. He was 
terrible and severe, sometimes rough and uncourteous, in his 
encounters with other men in debate. What he believed was 
very clear to his own mind, and he threw himself on an oppo- 
nent with a fiery indignation, or sought to trample him down 
with a withering contempt. His views of any business in hand 
'on which he spoke, were well-considered and usually just, and 
he had so fair and plausible a method of statement, and such 
an oracular impressiveness of manner, as if he were closing 
up all that could possibly be said upon the subject, as gave to 
his remarks great influence. 

While in the Legislature he took a prominent part in secur- 
ing the passage of what was called the " Religious Freedom 
Act;" a measiirc which afforded more complete religious tol- 



208 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

e ration than had been enjoyed before. He was also equally 
conspicuous in the origination and enactment of the " Better- 
ment Act," which contributed very successfully to the settle- 
ment of conflicting land claims, and much promoted the inter- 
ests of the people. Although this Act involved a pecuniary 
loss to Governor King, he zealously favored it, and was accus- 
tomed through his life to refer with manifest gratification to 
his agency in acconiplishing these measures for the public wel- 
fare. 

He was by far the most prominent citizen of Maine in effect- 
ing the political separation of this State from Massachusetts. 
After having been almost unanimously chosen president of the 
convention for forming our constitution, he was elected with 
similar cordiality our first governor, in 1820. His appoint- 
ments, while governor, were made with great impartiality and 
wisdom ; and such were the skill and good temper, with which 
he put the wheels of government in motion, and touched all 
the springs of affairs, that as he was the first, he has often 
been called the best of all our governors. Such testimony 
concerning him has been repeatedly given by men who them- 
selves have occupied the gubernatorial chair with honor, as 
well as by others well qualified to judge. 

While governor, and afterwards, he strenuously urged the 
purchase by Maine of all the public lands, then held in com- 
mon by her and Massachusetts. This measure, which then 
could have been executed at a comparatively small expense, 
would have added very greatly to ovir wealth, would have pro- 
moted the rapid settlement of the State, and the development 
of its resources, and is one of the striking testimonials to Gov. 
King's sagacity. 

He resigned his office of governor in 1821, to accept the 
place of one of the commissioners on Spanish claims, a trust 
which he executed with faithfulness and success. He was 
major-general of the militia during the war of 1812-14, and 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 209 

ill that capacity rendered valuable service. He held various 
other responsible offices under the general and State govern- 
ments ; he was a successful merchant, a generous and intelli- 
gent patron of institutions of learning, a firm friend of the 
interests of morality, and ever ready to contribute his large 
influence to purposes of public advantage. 

He mingled largely with political affairs until late in life, 
when his great powers of mind began to falter. He corres 
ponded extensively with public men ; often entertaining them 
with a grateful hospitality, and with a racy and animating con- 
versation at his home. There was a charm in that home, in 
the beauty, the refinement, the courtesy, the sweetness of tem- 
per, and piety of his wife, which threw around it all the 
attractions which he, or any others who resorted to it, could 
possibly desire. Her maiden name was Ann Frazier, and she 
was born, I believe, in Boston. He loved her with an almost 
idolatrous affection. Her amiability and love held her hus- 
band with a strong and instantly subduing power, whenever 
she approached him, though in the stormiest moments of his 
life. 

He died full of years and honors. His funeral was attended 
by the chief executive of the State, and by others who had 
occupied the same high position ; the president and professors 
of Bowdoin College, of which he had been for twenty-eight 
years an influential trustee ; large numbers of other gentlemen 
from abroad, and of his fellow-citizeij^ at home, attended his 
remains to the narrow house appointed for all li\dng. With 
military honors, with tolling of bells, and discharge of cannon, 
through the streets which he used to walk in manly pride, 
now draped in black and hung with flags, his venerable form 
was borne to its last resting-place, where now it sleeps under a 
monument erected by the authority of the State. A greater 
son, in native intellectual strength, Maine has never yet pro- 
duced. 

15 



210 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

His wife survived liim about five years ; and his only living 
representative, — present on this occasion, — his son, Major Cy- 
rus W. King, has laid our Historical Society under lasting 
obligations by depositing in its charge a large body of papers 
and correspondence belonging to his honored father, which will 
shed valuable light on the history of our State and the lives of 
many important public men. 

I have said he was a man of large and comprehensive de- 
signs, and the truth is, he was often impatient of those minute 
details of arrangement, on which the success of the greatest 
purposes often depends. His great purchase of lands, now in- 
cluded in Kingfield, New Portland and adjacent towns, was 
designed for an estate and a general style of life, which would 
have done honor to the most lordly baron in the middle ages. 
His large farm in Bath, with its orchard, which, at the time it 
was set out, was probably the largest in the State, and its stone 
farm-house, with its long Gothic windows, was quite in keep- 
ing with the general character of the man. But the pecuniary 
profit of these investments was much diminished by a want of 
attention to, and economy in the little details of affairs. In- 
deed, he could hardly bear to look at these smaller matters. He 
was, for a considerable time, the largest ship owner in Bath. 
But I have heard that when some worthy shipmaster, on re- 
turning from a voyage, would begin to unroll before him the 
long columns of his accounts, the restless governor would inter- 
rupt the whole by the exclamation, " Ah ! that will do. We 
will just lay these two accounts of debt and credit on the floor, 
and find the difference by pacing them off ! " 

A similar anecdote, illustrating this trait of his character, is 
told of him, when he was engaged in the saw-mill in Topsham. 
Happening to be in the store one day with the business of which 
he was not very familiar, a woman came in to buy some needles. 
The general handed her some, and she asked the price. " Ah ! " 
said he, " I suppose about a cent apiece." The thrifty house- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 211 

wife rejoined that she could buy enough elsewhere at the rate 
of three or four for a cent. " Ah ! " said he, " if that is the 
case, take the whole ; throw them out ; I will have nothing in 
my store that is not worth a cent ! " 

There are many stories of his methods of confounding an 
opponent with some sharp thrust in debate. As I have said, 
his mind grasped strongly the great main features of a ques- 
tion ; and then he could have little patience with hair-splitting 
and verbal quibbles about details. Some discussion having 
arisen between him and another of the citizens of Bath in a 
town meeting, upon a measure of public interest, his opponent 
seemed to Gov. King to be unduly magnifying trifling things, 
and to be ingeniously and tediously dwelling on what was not 
at all material to the case. When he sat down, Gov. King 
arose, and said that the fine-spun and irrelevant talk, which 
had just been given off with so much of the appearance of wis- 
dom, reminded him very much of a sort of wooden-headed, 
ignorant justice of the peace in some obscure town, who was 
once sitting, with his cocked hat, gravely listening to the argu- 
ments of two lawyers, in a case of assault and battery, which 
he very poorly understood. His confused perceptions had 
been thoroughly darkened by the quibbling of the lawyers, 
but with a most portentous solemnity he finally gave his 
judgment in these words : " The whole question here seems 
to depend on the words which the defendant used. It might 
seem to a common mind very immaterial, whether he said, 
' Come out here, McCartee, or McCartee, come out here ; ' but 
in point of laiv, in a high court of justice^ the terms are as 
wide apart as the poles of the earth ! " The laugh of the as- 
sembly and the manifest confusion of his opponent, a man not 
easily disconcerted, told how effectually the apposite story had 
done its designed work. 

To another, who was reflecting on him for having changed 
his political associations, and boasting at the same time that he 



212 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

had never varied from an opinion, which he had once formed 
and declared; " I perceive then," said the general, " you are 
one of the most extraordinary and confounded fools whom I 
have ever met. It is a wise man who, for good reasons, changes 
his opinions. A fool only never alters." 

He often told me with an obvious pride, how, accompanied 
by a large number of personal friends, he abruptly and pub- 
licly took his departure from a convention of his former politi- 
cal associates, because they refused to cooperate with him in 
measures which he deemed very important to adopt. Party 
lines were nothing to him in comparison with measures, the 
success of which lay near his heart. This change was made 
from the Federalist to the Republican party, sometime previous 
to the war of 1812. He continued to be associated with the 
Republicans or Democrats, until about the year 1832, when ha 
joined the Whigs with whom he sympathized until their party 
was practically annihilated, the very year of his death. 

He became a member of a church soon after he removed to 
Bath. The organization of this church was on so liberal a 
basis, that evidence of true piety was not a condition of mem- 
bership, and it was not understood that any very rigid disci- 
pline and inquiry were to be instituted in regard to the private 
affairs of the members. A zealous brother however, felt it his 
duty to labor with the governor on account of his occasionally 
allowing the use of cards in his house. In his efforts to con- 
vince Gov. King of the evil influences of such amusements, 
his fellow-member remarked that it led to cheating, and that 
he always used to cheat himself whenever he played. " Ah ! " 
said the general, " I dare say this is true, but you need have 
no such fear for me ; I never allow myself to play in such com- 
pany as yours ! " 

He always had a great jealousy of the continuance of the 
black race in this country. He believed that if they remained, 
amalgamation would continue to go on, until the white race 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 213 

at last "would become completely depreciated and displaced. 
He often referred to the significant lessons, presented in An- 
quetil's Universal History, of the inevitableness in any coun- 
try, which tolerates the continued existence of two distinct 
races, of the destruction of both by the mixed race which will 
take their place. " I am in favor," he used humorously to say, 
" of removing- the blacks to some distant part of our continent. 
There I would build a high wall between them and ourselves, 
and then would hang every one who should attempt to return." 
We should not, of course,- precisely concur in just these fea- 
tures of his plan. But in regard to the desirableness and great 
importance of the colonization of the negro race, he was sus- 
tained by the concurrent opinions of the most profound states- 
men, philanthropists, and divines our country has ever pro- 
duced. 

The memory of "William King is a valued inheritance of the 
State of Maine. He lived, and his commanding form now 
peacefully reposes on the banks of that river, at whose mouth 
the first formal, chartered settlement of white men was made 
in New England. - As long as Gorges shall be honored for 
schemes of colonial improvement, and Popham be known as 
an explorer, and the placid waters of the Kennebec continue 
to gladden an intelligent and prosperous population, the State 
of Maine will hold in reverential regard her first governor as 
one of her noblest sons. 



The Art of War, — the only guarantee of the blessings of peace. For the 
vast improvements in the means of attack and defense of the present day, our 
country is mainly indebted to the ability, caution, and consummate skill of the 
distinguished Chief of the Bureau of Engineers of the Army of the United 
States. 



The following letter from Gen. Totten, of the Engineer De- 



214 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

partment of the United States, was received in reply to the 
invitation of the committee : 

LETTER FROM GEN. J. G. TOTTEN. 

Bangor, Me., August 17, 1862. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Brunswick, Me. 

Sir, — I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 
11th instant, inviting me to the " Historical Celebration," to 
be held on the 29th instant, in the fort at the mouth of the 
Kennebec. 

Your letter encloses a toast to be given on that occasion, to 
which I am invited to respond. 

I beg you to be assured that I feel highly complimented by 
these attentions, and am very grateful for them ; at the same 
time, I am obliged to add, that very pressing public duties will 
keep me at a great distance from a meeting which, in all that 
shall transpire, will, I hope, satisfy the desires of the projec- 
tors and patrons of the celebration, and mark the day as a 
bright and memorable one in the annals of New England. 
I am very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

Jos. G. TOTTEN. 

The Coast Line of Maine, — the nursery of seamen ; affording the highest ad- 
Tantages for maritime and commercial pursuits ; more deeply indented than any 
on the globe. The efforts and skill of modern science have laid open its most 
secret recesses to the uses of commerce. 

Professor Bache, of the United States Coast Survey, sent the 
following letter in partial response to this sentiment. It is to 
be regretted that he has not been at leisure to complete his 
purpose of furnishing the proposed communication, as indi- 
cated in a letter from Washington of last January, by reason 
of the increasing demands upon his time and labors in the 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 215 

public service. As he had made a commencement of his effort 
in this direction, it is hoped that his paper may still be pub- 
lished for the benefit of the citizens of Maine. 

LETTER OF PROFESSOR A. D. BACHE. 

Bangor, Me., August 17, 1862. 
Sir, — I beg leave to acknowledge the honors done me by the 
Executive Committee of the Historical Society, in their invita- 
tion to attend the celebration at Fort Popliam. The special 
interest which I take in the coast of Maine makes it a source 
of much regret to be obliged to decline the invitation. I have 
been requested by the Navy Department to take part in a com- 
mission in reference to the site of a navy yard for iron clad 
vessels, which is to meet in New London on the 26tli, and 
which must prevent my attendance at the mouth of the Ken- 
nebec, on the day of your celebration. I shall have a few 
words to say on the " Coast Line of Maine," which I shall send 
you soon. With great respect, 

Truly yours, 



A. D. Bache. 



Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 



Rhode Island, — the early home of toleration, and of civil and religious free- 
dom, — the greatness of whose example is in inverse proportion to the extent 
of her territory. 

The letter of the Hon. Mr. Arnold, here given, assigns the 
reason for his inability to comply with the request of the com- 
mittee : 

HON. MR. Arnold's letter. 

Providence, R. I., August 28, 1862. 
Sir, — By some delay of the mails, your favor, with invita- 
tion to be present at the celebration at Fort Pophani to-mor- 
row, did not reach mc till last evening. 



216 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

I regret very much that public duties will prevent my accept- 
ance of the same. Our Legislature is now in session, other- 
wise it would afford me much pleasure to be with you on so 
interesting an occasion, and to reply to the complimentary 
toast in behalf of Rhode Island. 

Respectfully yours, 

S. G. Arnold. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Brunswick, Me. 

The West, — tlie proudest achievement of modern civilization. The march 
of empire Westward, — unlike the conquering hordes of Attila, or the advance 
of the Tartar tribes of Tamerlane, — diffuses peace, plenty, and content among 
the teeming millions, that throng the vast domain of the Mississippi valley. 

The following letter was received in reply to the invitation 
of the committee from the Hon. S. P. Chase, Secretary of the 
Treasury ; 

HON. MR. chase's LETTER. 

Washington, D. C, August 21, 1862. 
My Dear Sir, — I have received your card. Accept the 
urgency of indispensable public duties here, as an adequate 
apology for my omission to reply in due season to your very 
kind note, inviting me to attend the Historical Celebration at 
Fort Popham on the 29th instant, and for my necessary 
absence. Yours truly, 

S. P. Chase. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Brunswick, Me. 

The Clergy of New England, — vcho, by their early and assiduous devotion to 
popular education, became the architects of our civilization. Their teachings 
and influence have saved our prosperity from degenerating into luxury, and 
have helped to preserve in our children the fidelity to principle and the fear of 
God, which characterized the fathers and founders of the New England colonies. 

The Rights of New England Citizenship, — Hard Work with Freedom ; Hard 
Thought with Generosity j Hard Fighting with Patience unto Victory. 



I 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 217 

Poetry and Art, — twin products of civilization, at once the loftiest expres- 
sions of human genius and the most elevating in their influence on mankind, — 
the works of a Longfellow and an Akers attest that their growth is native to 
our soil, and that after the lapse of two centuries and a half, the wilderness, in 
this highest efflorescence of humanity, has indeed been made " to blossom as 
the rose." 

Biplomaoj : the Instrument of Internaiwnal Conciliation, — wisely used by the 
Master's hand ; may it guide us as it has guided our imperiled ship of State past 
the threatened dangers of foreign intervention, and while restoring our own, 
preserve the world's j^eace. 

The 3fountains and the Seas, — Hindrances to the sluggish, — helps to the ad- 
venturous. 

The Valley of the 3Iississippi, — the garden of the world. Its development in 
population, wealth, and power, — in all that constitutes progress in the highest 
civilization, finds no parallel in history. 

The Brotherhood of Nations, — the holiest of all brotherhoods ;' requiring only 
that mankind should, remember their parentage, their relationship, and their 
inheritance. 

The letter here given, from "Walter Shanley, Esq., of Montreal, 
was sent without special reference to the sentiment with which 
it is now connected. But as it embodies the spirit of that sen- 
timent, it has been deemed proper to add it in this place. "^ 

MR. SHANLEY'S letter, 

Montreal, C. E., 2d Sept., 1862. 
Dear Sir, — On my return from New Brunswick this morn- 
ing, I found among the letters awaiting me, your printed note 
of the 12th ult., in relation to the two hundred and fifty-fifth 
anniversary celebration at Fort Popham, of the founding of the 
first English colony on the shores of New England ; and I re- 
gret very much that my inopportune absence from home should 
have prevented my receiving your kind and thoughtful iuAdta- 

1 Communications on " Pemaquid," " Weymouth," " The Lost Augusta," and 
others, not received in season for insertion in the " Proceedings" at the Pavilion, 
will be found after the Letters," 



218 MEMOKIAL VOLUME. 

tion in time to have allowed of my availing myself of it ; for 
it would, I assure you sir, have afforded me the highest pleas- 
ure to have been with you on that most interesting occasion, — 
one so well calculated to remind us, — us of Old and you of 
New England, — that we are of the same hearth, and to incul- 
cate the lesson that being brethren, we should " dwell together 
in unity." 

Trusting that your meeting of the 29th of August was a 
happy and joyous one for all present, and thanking you for 
your mindfulness of me, I remain,. 

Dear sir, 

Faithfully yours, 

W. Shanley. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 



THE CONCLUSION 



At the close of the several addresses, the Chief Marshal read 
in order the sentiments already given in this account, to which 
no response was made in the Pavilion ; thus intimating to the 
large assemblage the design of the commemoration, and im- 
printing on the public mind its true historic purport. He 
then announced that the proceedings, for which preparation 
had been made by the committee, were now terminated ; and 
the immense gathering separated for their return to their 
homes, whether distant or near. 

It was a remarkable incident in the history of our State, that 
this large number of people should turn aside from the ordin- 
ary avocations of life, in devotion to the memory of by-gone 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 219 

days ; at a time, too, when the public mind was absorbed in 
events of the greatest magnitude, growing out of the civil war. 
And it was a subject of gratitude to a kind Providence that no 
personal injury was sustained by any individual among the 
thousands, whose interest, whether social or historical, had led 
them to the place and occasion. To this safety, as well as to 
the historical information imparted, was added the enjoyment, 
new to a large portion of the number, of the attractive views 
on the shores of the Kennebec, and the grandeur of its open- 
ing into the broad expanse of the ocean : — scenes which had 
been beheld with interest more than two centuries and a half 
before this day of anniversary remembrances, by the most dis- 
tinguished navigators to these western shores. No event great- 
er than adverse tides occurred to mar the festive spirit of the 
day. No violation of the proprieties of the occasion occurred 
in the vast assemblage in presence of the speakers to interrupt, 
for a moment, the course of their remarks. The interest was 
fully sustained to the close ; and both old and young left the 
scene and the occasion, rejoicing in the opportunity of recalling 
the events of the distant past, and associating the " Ancient 
Province of Sabino " with one of the most memorable events 
in the history of New England. 



220 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 



LETTERS. 



PRESIDENT POPHAM'S LETTER TO THE KING. 

The following letter, in the Latin of his day, was written by the 
leader of the colony at Sabino, after an experience of about four 
months in the affairs of the new enterprise, and is dated two days 
before " the ships were to be despatched away for England," ^ under 
" Capt. Kobert Davies in the Mary and John.'"^ It is addressed to 
his sovereign, whose divine right to rule he carefully recognized, in 
the adoption of language employed by writers in his own and a 
former age. ^ A certified copy of the original, from the English 
archives, was furnished to the Maine Historical Society, by the 
attention of the Hon. George Bancroft, and has been published in 
the fifth volume of their transactions. Its importance, and the 
many errors in the printing of the document, make its reproduction 
a suitable addition to the present volume. The orthography and 
punctuation are here made to conform to common usage, and there- 
fore it is not presented as a/ac simile, and the paragraphs are sep- 
arated for greater convenience. 

1 Gorges, in Me. H. C, vol. 2, p. 21. ^ 

2 Strachey. ^ 

3 Buchanan, one of the purest scholars of his time, says of Henry VIIL, 
whose virtues certainly did not entitle him to the eminence : " Te dis immortal- 
ibus sequuni ; " and Parmenius, the companion of Sir Humphrey Gilbert in his 
voyage to America (1583), speaks poetically of Queen Elizabeth as " diva " and 
"divina," to represent, perhaps, even more than here, "Her Most Sacred Maj- 
esty." Mass. H. C, vol. 9, p. 51. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 221 

A few explanatory notes are added. They will show that the 
venerable writer, — like many of his own and the earlier time, from 
Columbus onward, — had his mind filled with .the expectation of 
finding here the productions of the east, while they were hoping 
to reach the country of spices and fragrance, by sailing to the west. 
This spirit is well described in the following extract from a distin- 
guished scholar of our own country : " The discoverers expected 
to find the same animals, vegetables, minerals, and even arts, with 
which observation had made them familiar in corresponding lati- 
tudes of the eastern hemisphere. They came prepared to recognize 
resemblances, not to detect differences; * * * and naturally 
saw what they expected. Their early reports make constant men- 
tion of plants, animals, and mechanical processes, as of common 
occurrence in America, but which we now know never to have ex- 
isted on this continent."' 

The chart in Irving's Life of Columbus, places the present Isles 
of Japan and the country of China in a position westerly from 
Spain, scarcely more distant than the Atlantic shore of North Amer- 
ica. Strachey, too, says that in Virginia, " from the topps of high 
hills afar oft" within the land, the people sale they see another sea, 
and that the water is there salt." '^ Mr. Major adds, " that this de- 
lusion was entertained for many years ; for in a Map of 1651, The 
Sea of China and the Indies is brought close under the Alleghany 
Mountains," and the distance about a hundred and sixty miles. It 
is not to be wondered at, then, that Popham should have listened 
to the Indians, describing rudely or extravagantly, perhaps Lake 
Champlain or Ontario, in the conviction that they spoke of the 
Austral_Sea " reaching to the regions of China." 

George Popham to King James I. 

13 December, 1607. 

Ad pedes serenissimi regis sui humillime se projecit Gcorgius 
Pophamiis, Prsesidens secundae Colonise Virginias. 

Si divinjB Majestatis Tuas placuerit patientice, a servo obscr- 

1 Marsh's Lect. p. 243. 
•-' Hist. Trav. p. 34. 



222 ME3I0BIAL VOLUME.* 

rantissimo ac devotissimo. quamris indigno. pauca recipere, ab 
Alrirudmis Tuae daritate Tel minimum alienare arbitror ; quo- 
mam in Dei gloriam. Sublimitatis Testrae amplitudinem, et 
Britamionim utilitatem redundare videantur. Peraequum igi- 
tur judicavi Majestati Tuae notum fieri, quod apud Tirginios et 
Moassones, nullus in orbe terrarum magis admiratur, quam 
Dominus Jacobus, Britannorum Imperator, propter admirabilem 
justitiam ac incredibilem constantiam, quae istarum provincia- 
rum natiris non mediocrem perfert laetitiam ; dicentibus insu- 
per nullum esse Deum vere adorandum. praeter ilium Domini 
Jacobi ; sub cujus ditione atque imperio libenter militare volu- 
erint. Tahanida, unus ex natiris qui Britanniae adfuit, Yestras 
laudes ac Tirtutes hie illis illustraTit. 

Quid et quantum, in his negotiis subeundis et illorum ani- 
mis confirmandis, valerem, eorum sit judicium, qui domi volu- 
tarunt scienter ; agnoscens onmes conatus meos perire, cum 
in comparatione officii debiti erga Principem habeantur. Op- 
tima me tenet opinio, Dei gloriam facile in his regionibus elu- 
cescere, Testras Majestatis imperium amplificari, et Britanno- 
rum rempublicam breviter augmentari. 

Quod ad mercimonium attinet, onmes indigenae constanter 
affirmant, his inessse provinciis nuces amisticas, maciam et 
cinnamomum ; praeterea bitumen, lignum Brasilia?, cochinelam 
et ambergetie, cum multis aliis magni momenti et yaloris ; 
eaque maxima quidem in abundantia. 

Insuper affirmative mecum agunt, esse mare aliquod, in ad- 
versa vel oceidentali hujui; provinciae parte, non plus [quam] 
septem dierum itineris spatium ^ prassidio nostro Sancti 
Georgii in Sagadahoc, 'amplum, latum et profundum ; cujus 
terminos prorsus ignorant: quod aliud esse non potest 
nisi Australe, tcndens ad regiones Chinae, quae longe ab liis 
partibus procul dubio esse non possunt. 



POPHAM cziiziArioy. 2ro 

Si igimr pla«ra-?rii divincts liic»E-re comlce Til-?? ar*rn.:f5 in 
sabjecTo ceninciiiioiis me^. nin iuciio quia Celfini-i:' Te^rra 
ainsolvet c^his I>e«3 graiisfini'iiii. ini^riieenii^ Vestry h : n: rid- 
cum, et rd|»ablic£ Tna lojixiine c-:'::LiiL:i: iie. quc-i ariieniissdiiiis 
predbns veh^naiier exof»io ; e« ii Deo C^pdmo, MaTimo, con- 
t^ido ut peigis mei Domini Jatiolbi 'MAJsstaJteni quam dxnlxsaflifg 
servet gloiiosain. 

In |sxsidio Sancti Georgii. in Sag^a iahx de Tirsinia- lo* 
Decembris 1607. 

Seims T^tra? Majestatis omnimodis deTonssinnis, 

GfiCfflGirS POPHAMUS," 

ITie fc^winsr iDdorsetneot is cm the orisinal : 

"To the nKist heigh and migfade my grations Sorei^an 
D3rd James of Great Brittain, France, and Ireland, Tirsinia 

and Moass»jii. Kinir?.*' 

llie translatioD of this doemneiit, as it appeared in the fifth to^ 
mne of the Maine Bjstorical Scour's Coiiectkns, is h«e adopted, 
\dth a few verbal alt^ratioos aj^^H^Ted by the tran^atiX' : 

' [ TBASSLATIOX. ] 

At the feet of his most serene King, humbly prostrares Imn- 
self George Popham, President of the second Colony of Virginia, 

K it may please the patience of your divine Majestr to 
receive a few things from your most observant and devoted, 
though unworthy servant, I trust it will derogate nothing frtan 
the lustre of your Highness, since they seem to redound to 
the glory of God. the greatness of your Majesty, and the util- 
ity of the Britons. I have thought it, therefore, very just that 
it should be made known to your Majesty, that among the Virgin- 



224 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

ians and Moassons, ^ there is no one in the world'more admired 
than King James, sovereign Lord of the Britons, on account 
of his admirable justice and incredible constancy, which' gives 
no small pleasure to the natives of these regions ; who say, 
moreover, that there is no God to be truly worshipped, but the 
God of King James ; under whose rule and reign they would 
gladly fight. Tahanida,^ one of the natives who was in 
Britain, has here proclaimed to them your praises and virtues. 

"What and how much I may avail in transacting these affairs 
and in confirming their minds, let those judge who are well 
versed in these matters at home ; while I wittingly avow that 
all my endeavors are as nothing when considered in compari- 
son with my duty towards my Prince. My well considered 
opinion is, that in these regions the glory of God may be easi- 
ly evidenced, the empire of your Majesty enlarged, and the 
public welfare of the Britons speedily augmented. 

So far as relates to commerce, all the natives constantly af- 
firm that in these parts there are nutmegs, ^ mace, * and cinna- 

1 The people of the Bashaba's country, called " Moasham " by Gorges, 2d 
Book, in Maine Hist. Coll., vol. 2, p. 62. Probably it was another mode of 
writing the word, " Mavooshen," the name for the territory between the Ken- 
nebec and the Penobscot, given by the English, and adopted from the Indian 
name of some locality within the region tluis denoted. The word, " Norum- 
bega," the name of a place, was used in the same way, and embraced a large 
extent of country east and west of the Penobscot ; to a part alone of which 
it was originally applied. 

2 Usually called Nahan'ada. 

3 Nuccs amisticas ; The last word is not found. The nearest to it is myristicas, 
■which harmonizes with the expectations of the primitive voyagers, inasmuch 
as it indicates that these fruits were " nutmegs ; " the kernel or seed of the my- 
ristica nioschata. The hazel-nut was probably described by the natives. The next 
word makes this opinion probable. 

4 Madam ; The husk of the hazel-nut ; which the writer, from the words of 
his informers, took to be '' mace ; " a natural sequel to the nutmegs. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 225 

mon, ^ besides pitch, ^ Brazil Trood, ^ cochineal, "* and amber- 
gris,^ with many other products of great importance and 
value ; and these, too, in the greatest abundance. 

Besides, they positively assure me, that there is a certain sea 
in the opposite or western part of this province, distant not more 
than seven days' journey from our fort of St. George in Saga- 
dahoc : a sea large, wide, and deep, of the boundaries of which 
they are wholly ignorant ; which cannot be any other than the 
Southern Ocean, reaching to the regions of China, which un- 
questionably cannot be far from these parts. 

1 Cinnamomum ; Williamson, (I. p. Ill), quoting Bigelow, (2, 146) says that 
" Cinnamon., cassia, the camjjhor-tree and sassafras belong to the same family." 
It, therefore, was proper for the writer, in mentioning from the natives the sas- 
safras, to use a word for description from the same group, when he had no 
knowledge of the specific term in the language of his letter. 

2 Bitumen ; Pitch of the Pine ; an early indication of the resources of the 
" Pine-Tree State." 

3 Lignum Brasilia^ ; The word hrasil was in use before the discovery of Amer- 
ica, in the sense of bright red, the color of " hraise, or hot coals." It is found 
" in the Catalonian tariffs of 1221 ; " perhaps the African Camwood. " The prov- 
ince of Brazil was certainly so named because of a dye-wood, which gave a 
color, similar to that already known as hrasil, was found there." (Marsh's 
Wedgewood's Etymol. Art. Brase, Brasil). The wood of the Bed-cedar corres- 
ponds in appearance to the well known Brazil dye-wood. As its bark was 
deemed to have medical properties, the natives would be ready to give a good 
account of it to willing listeners, and speak of its red wood as a means of de- 
scription. 

4 Cochinelam ; Capt. John Smith (Mass. H. C, 3d series, vol. 6, pp. 115, 120), 
speaks *' of certain red berries called Kermes or Alkermes found on the coast, 
like those in the south of Europe used in dyeing." Josselyn refers to Smith, 
and quoting from Gerard's Herbal, says, " Kermes is Cutchinele," (Id. III., p. 
254), Harris (Voy. vol. 2, p. 871), says, " The Persians call Cochineal, Kermes 
orKerm;" which is found on a kind of oak in eastern countries. But now 
they are regarded as different. 

^ Amhcg[r'\cti[m'\; "Ambergris." As formerly whales were frequent on our 
coast, Josselyn, also, (Id. p. 2G5), deemed himself authorized to speak of this, 
their reputed product, as having been found on our shores. 

16 



226 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

If, therefore, it may please you to keep open your divine 
eyes on this matter of my report, I doubt not but your High- 
ness will perform a work most pleasing to God, honorable to 
your greatness, and most conducive to the weal of your king- 
dom, which with most ardent prayers I vehemently desire ; and 
I beg of God, the best and the greatest, that he will preserve 
the glorious majesty of my Sovereign James for ages to come. 

At the Fort of St. George, in Sagadahoc of Virginia, the 
thirteenth of December, 1607. 

In all things your Majesty's most devoted servant, 

George Popham. 



The following letter from the venerable Dr. Jenks, formerly 
a resident of Bath, to which reference is made in his reply 
to the committee, expressing his inability "to comply with their 
invitation, is here added, as in proper connection with the 
letter of President Popham. 

rev. dr. jenks's letter. 

Boston, Aug. 27th, 1862. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : — I have unhappily failed to find the 
memoranda which I mentioned, and which I was expecting to 
see in my Diary of 1807. And I have been equally unfortu- 
nate in regard to the volume containing the family coat of arms 
of Lord Chief Justice Popham. However, I have found a suf- 
ficient authority in " Burke's Armory," which I copy. 

" Popham." Of " Popham, county of Hants [or Hampshire], 
^emj9orc King John [1199 — 1216] ; also of Huntworth, county 
of Somerset, and of Bagl^orough in the same county, as like- 
wise of Littlecott, coiinly of Wilt;>, and Shanklin, Isle of 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 



227 




Wight ; — all bearing Argent, on a 
chief, Gules, two bucks' heads ca- 
bossed [fronting]. Or." (^Crest a 
stag's head erased.) 

These arms are traced to " Sir 
John Popham, Lord Chief Justice 
of England, tempore Queen Eliza- 
beth, second son of Alexander 
Popham, of Huntworth, Esq., by- 
Jane his wife, daughter of Sir Ed- 
ward Stradling, of St. Donat's Cas- 
tle, county of Glamorgan." As 
George Popham was younger broth- 
er of the chief Justice, then prob- 
ably head of the family, it would be proper to place on his 
coat of arms " a crescent for difference." 

Though I have found no record of the visit paid to Point 
Popham in 1807, yet I feel certain of having been there, and 
at a bi-centennary celebration, — such as it was.' For indeed 
it was mostly confined to the family of Major Joshua Shaw. 
His son, Charles, had been a member of my family at Cam- 
bridge, and was author of the " Monody on President Willard," 
contained in Prof. Willard's " Memoirs," a scholar and man of 
taste. He wrote and published a brief " History of Boston," 
and we had many conversations respecting Maine. But our 
authorities concerning the first European colonization of the 
Sagadahoc region, consisted of Prince's Chronology and Sulli- 
van's History of Maine only. 

The Rev. Mr. Bartlett, in his Life of Rev. Mr. Bailey, " Fron- 
tier Missionary," has given some notices taken from publica- 
tions of the " Hakluyt Society," which are, I think, additional 
to the quotations cited hj Williamson. 



1 A notice of this visit will be found in Me. H. C, vol. 3, p. 285, and is 
cited on the introductory pages in reference to the Map. 



228 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

I hope the result of this celehration will be a copious, well- 
digested, thorough exhibition of the history of the enterprise, 
from its* design and inception to its close, — including what 
Prince had denominated the branding of the country as over- 
cold, and not inhabitable by men of European constitutions, — 
for this has long since been proved a calumny. 

I am fearful my letter will not reach you in due time ; and 
must be content if it may only show an intention to comply 
with my promise, had it been practicable, and that I am. 
Yours truly, 

William Jenks. 

Eev. President Woods. 



The letter here annexed, from a lineal descendant in the 
Poph^m family, introduces an extended account of its geneal- 
ogy, and comes in fitting connection with the letter of the 
Revi Dr. Jenks. 

MR. POPHAM'S letter. 

ScARSDALE, N. Y., Aug. 1, 1862. 

Eev. and Dear Sir : — Your very welcome and interesting 
letter of the 24th of July came safe to hand. I have endeav- 
ored to collect all the information in my power relative to the 
subject of the genealogy of our family, which I herewith en- 
close, hoping it may be acceptable. 

I regret very much that it will not be in my power to accept 
your kind invitation to visit Brunswick and be present at the in- 
teresting celebration, which I assure you I should enjoy most 
heartily. With kind regards, 

Yours very truly, 

Wm. S. Popham. 

Rev. Edward Ballard. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 229 



THE POPUAM OENEALOQY. 



The Popham family were originally from Popliam, in the 
county of Hampshire, England, and sprung from Gilbert Pop- 
ham, of Popham, who, in the year 1200, married Jane, daugh- 
ter and heiress of Robert Clarke, a feofce in trust for the ma- 
nor of Popham. They were greatly distinguished by the favor 
of the Empress Maud, A. D. 1140, and held high and honor- 
able stations in the reign of Henry III. To Hampshire County 
they gave several sheriffs; viz., Robertus de Popham, 1227 ; 
Stephanus de Popham, cir., 1428. Sixth in descent from Gil- 
bert, was Sir John Popham, Knight of the Bath, Lord Chief 
Justice of the Queen's Bench, purchaser of the Littlecott es- 
tate, Wiltshire, England. This individual died A. D. 1607, 
and his remains repose under a magnificent tomb in the church 
of Wellington, surrounded by a palisade, and on a tablet are 
the effigies of himself and lady Popham. His only son was 
Sir Francis Popham, Knight of Littlecott. This gentleman, to- 
gether with his son Alexander, became so obnoxious to King 
Charles I., that he excepted them both out of the general par- 
don. John Popham, eldest son of Sir Francis, was, for many 
years, a gentleman of the household to King James I. On 
the restoration of Charles II., he removed to Ireland and there 
purchased the Bandon estate, county of Cork. His only son 
he significantly named Ichabod, "the glory is departed." Ich- 
abod left one son, John, the father of James and grandfather 
of William Popham, of Bandon, whose son was the late Major 
Wm. Popham, of Scarsdale, N. Y., who was born in the town of 
Bandon, Cork County, Ireland, September 19, 1752. He was 
brought to this country at the early age of nine years, and his 
parents settled in the town of Newark, Delaware. It was his 
intention to enter upon the holy office of the ministry ; but on 
the breaking out of the Revolutionary war he was fired with 
military zeal, and accepting a commission in the army, imme- 



230 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

diately raised a company in the defense of his country. He 
afterwards settled in the legal . profession in the city of New 
York. Late in life he was chosen President General of the 
Society of the Cincinnati, and held the office at the time of his 
decease at the age of about a hundred years. 

The writer of the foregoing letter is the oldest living repre- 
sentative of the family in this country. In Canada, John Pop- 
ham, Esq., Advocate, Montreal, bearing the name of the Chief 
Justice, is a lineal descendant of the Somersetshire family. 

REPLY FROM THE PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES. 

Executive Mansion, I 
Washington, Aug. 23, 1862. j 

My Dear Sir : — The President has received your kind let- 
ter of the 12th of August, inviting him to join in the celebra- 
tion of the anniversary of the- founding of the first English 
Colony on the shores of New England. He directs me to thank 
you for the courtesy of the invitation, and to express his re- 
gret that his engagements will not permit him to avail himself 
of it. Very truly, 

Your ob't servant, 

John Hay. 
Rev. Edward Ballard. 

reply from lord MULGRAVE, governor of nova SCOTIA. 

Government House, | 
Halifax, N. S., 20th Aug. 1862. \ 

Sir : — I am directed by His Excellency the Earl of Mul- 
grave, to express his regret that he is unable, in consequence 
of other engagements, to accept the kind invitation of the 
Committee of Management to be present at the celebration of 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 231 

the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of 
Maine. I have the honor to he, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

William Hickman, R. S. 

from the governor op maine. 

State op Maine, Executive Department, ^ 
Augusta, August 16th, 1862. j 

Edward Ballard, Esq., Sec''y of Executive Committee. 

Dear Sir , — I have tlie honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your invitation of the 12tli inst., to attend the public celebra- 
tion on " the two hundred and fifty-fifth Anniversary of the 
Founding of the First English Colony on the shores of New 
England," and shall be pleased to be present. 
Respectfully yours, 

I. Washburn, Jr. 

prom governor andrew. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
Executive Department, Boston, Aug. 21st, 1862. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, 8fc. 

Dear Sir : — I regret that my official engagements will pre- 
vent me from accepting the invitation, with which I am favored, 
to attend at the celebration of the anniversary of the first 
British colonial settlement on the shore of New England. Al- 
though there are not such immortal associations of great re- 
ligious and political ideas, with the landing of Popham and 
Gilbert on the Kennebec, as are inseparable from the memory 
of Plymouth, yet in these times there is no truer source of in- 
spiration for -the needs of the present hour, than in recol- 
lection of the faith, the courage, and the principles of our fore- 
fathers. I have the honor to remain, 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

John A. Andrew. 



232 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 



FROM THE HON. MR. BANCROFT. 



• Newport, R. I., 27tli Aug. 1862. 

My Dear Sir : — Absence from New York prevented my duly 
receiving your favor of the 14tli, which was addressed to me 
at that city, while I have been passing the month of August 
here. Yarious causes combine, at this late moment, to pre- 
vent my joining your party ; a celebration which otherwise it 
would have been most agreeable to me to have shared. 

I am glad to see that in reckoning 0. S. you have avoided 
the blunder made respecting the landing at Plymouth. 
Yery truly your obliged, 

George Bancroft. 

Rev. Edward Ballard. 

FROM PRESIDENT SPARKS. 

Cambridge, Mass., 21st August, 1862. 

Dear Sir : — I have receivej^ your note inviting me to attend 
the public celebration proposed for the 29th instant. It would 
give me great pleasure to be present on so interesting an occa- 
sion, and if nothing should intervene to prevent it, I shall en- 
deavor to be there. With thanks to the Committee for this 
mark of their attention, 

Yery respectfully yours, 

Jared Sparks. 
Rev. Edward Ballard. 

FROM HON. MR. GUSHING. 

Newburyport, Mass., 8th Nov., 1862. 

Dear Sir : — I have just received your favor of the 1st of 
October, which reminds me also of the invitation addressed to 
me during my absence from home. It will afford me pleasure 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 233 

to send yon some remarks on the subject of Chief Justice Pop- 
ham and his connection with America, if there be time for 
your purposes, in the midst of my own professional engage- 
ments. 

I beg you to let me know the progress of your work, and the 
period of its probable completion, by a line in return ; and I 
remain meanwhile. 

Your ob't servant, 

C. Gushing. 
Rev. Edward Ballard. 



FROM HON. MR. PALFREY. 

Boston, Mass., August 22d, 1862. 
Gentlemen : — It would give me very great pleasure, if it 
were in my power, to accept the invitation with which you 
honor me, to be present at your commemoration of the arrival 
of the English company, part of which passed the winter of 
1607-8 at the mouth of the Kennebec. But I had made en- 
gagements for the last week of this month in another direction, 
before I received your note. 

I found it yesterday awa*iting me on my return from an ab- 
sence of several days. But for this, your obliging attention 
would have been earlier acknowledged. 

Be pleased to accept my best thanks for it and the assurance 
of my wish for the successful result of your arrangements. 
I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 

With high regard, your ob't servant, 

John G. Palfrey. 
Messrs. B. C. Bailey an^ others, Executive Committee, Sfc. 



234 MEMORIAL V0LU3IE. 

FROM HON. MR. GOODWIN, LATE GOV. OF. NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Portsmouth, N. H., Aug. 26, 1862. 

Gentlemen : — It is with great regret that I am obliged to 
decline the kind invitation I have received from yon, on ac- 
count of pressing engagements. 

There is no place that ever gives me so much pleasure to visit 
as my native State ; and no place in that State would be more 
agreeable to me than the one to which I am invited, hallowed, 
as it is, by so many pleasant historical recollections of our 
forefathers. I am, gentlemen, with much respect. 

Your obedient servant, 

IcHABOD Goodwin. 

Messrs. B. C. Bailey, and others, Executive Committee. 

FROM JUDGE TANEY. 

Washington, D. C, August 28, 1862. 

Sir : — The letter of the Executive Committee, inviting me 
and the ladies of my family to the public celebration on the 
29th inst., of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the 
founding of the first English colony on the shores of New Eng- 
land, has been forwarded to me from Baltimore, but unfortu- 
nately, not in time to enable me to reply before the day ap- 
pointed for the celebration. But it is not too late to return 
my thanks to the Executive Committee for the honor they have 
done me, and to express my regret that I cannot be present 
upon an occasion so full of historical interest. My advanced 
age and the length of the journey would have put it out of my 
power to attend, even if the invitation had been received in 
time. Accept for yourself and for the Executive Committee 
the high respect of 

Yoilr obedient servant, 

R. B. Taney. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Brunswick, Me. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 235 



FROM HON. L. BRADISH. 



Saratoga Springs, N. Y., ) 
August 25tli, 1862. \ 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

Dea]^ Sir : — I am this morning honored by the receipt of 
your communication, inviting me individually, and officially as 
President of the New York Historical Society, to be present at 
" the Public Historical Celebration," on the 29th inst., at the 
site of Fort Popham, near the place of the original Fort St. 
George, at the mouth of the Kennebec Eiver, in the ancient 
Province of Sabino, of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniver- 
sary of the founding of the first English Colony on the shores 
of New England, August 19, 160T, 0. S. 

I regret exceedingly that neither my engagements, nor the 
present state of my health will permit me the high gratifica- 
tion thus politely offered in your invitation. With the ex- 
pression of my regrets, therefore, it only remains for me to re- 
quest that you will be pleased to receive, for yourself, and to 
communicate to the Committee and Society you represent, my 
cordial and due acknowledgments for your kind recollection 
of me, on an occasion of so great interest, as the one in ques- 
tion ; an occasion on which will be worthily commemorated 
one of the most important eras, and one of the most interest- 
ing events in the chronicles of our country, — an era and event 
which form one of the first chapters in the history of a great 
people. 

I have the honor to remain. 

Dear sir, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

L. Bradish, 
President of the N. Y. Historical Society. 



23G MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

t 
FROM THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

At a stated meeting of the New York Historical Society, 
held at its hall, on Tuesday evening, October 7, 1862, the fol- 
lowing resolution was adopted : 

Ptesolved, That this Society has observed with pleasure the 
efforts of the Historical Society of Maine to perpetuate the 
earliest history of their State, by associating important historic 
events with the great works of national defense of the United 
States Government ; that they acknowledge with satisfaction 
the courtesy extended by the Historical Society and the citizens 
of Maine, in inviting the Society and its officers to participate 
in the commemorative celebration of the founding of the first 
colony on the shores of New England on the two hundred and 
fifty-fifth anniversary of that event, on the 29th of August, 
1862, at which time a Memorial Stone was placed in the walls 
of Fort Popham, commemorating the establishment of the first 
Protestant civil government on the shores of New England ; 
and that this Society cordially approves the act of its President, 
in his aclcnowledgment and reply to. the invitation to partici- 
pate in that celebration. 

Extract from the Minutes, 

Andrew Warner, 

Recording' Secretary. 

FROM the president OF THE N. E. SOCIETY OF MONTREAL. 

Montreal, 26th August, 1862. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary Public Historical Celebration. 
Dear Sir : — I regret that business engagements will not al- 
low me the pleasure of accepting your kind invitation to be 
present at the public celebration of the two hundred and fifty- 
fifth anniversary of the founding of the first English Colony on 
the shores of New England ; but I beg to say that tho New 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 23T 

England Society of Montreal deeply sympathize with their New 
England brothers in this dark hour of their country's history, 
and believe that the same kind Providence that led the Popham 
Colony to the shores of New England in 1607, is still the God 
of her children, and will safely guide them through the conflict 
that they are now engaged in ; that the principle of civil and 
religious liberty will be still maintained ; and " free thought, 
free speech, and a free press," will yet be enjoyed in the whole 
United States. 

Yours very respectfully, 

H. A. Nelson, Pres. N. E. Society. 

FROM CHIEF JUSTICE HORNBLOWER. 

Newark, N. J., August 29th, 1862. 

Messrs. B. C. Bailey and others. Executive Committee on 
Celebration of First Eng-lish Colony in Neiu England. 

Gentlemen : — Your kind invitation to attend the public 
celebration of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of 
the founding of the first English Colony on the shores of New 
England, at Fort Popham, was duly received, and would have 
been sooner answered had not my increasing infirmities pre- 
vented me from writing. I thank you for this mark of attention, 
and I would have been pleased to attend the celebration had' 
my health and strength and other circumstances permitted. 
But having myself lived through just one-third of the period 
which has elapsed siitce the founding of the colony referred to 
(viz. 85 years), I do not possess sufiicient vigor to make such 
a long journey. And, then, the present torn and bleeding 
condition of my native country, and the disasters which threaten 
its cherished system of government, affects with sadness all 
the once glorious and animating associations of its history. I 



238 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

feel, therefore, that I should have but illy enjoyed the festivities 
of your anniversary, had I been able to attend. 

Respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Jos. C. HORNBLOWER. 
FROM HON. W. H. Y. HACKETT. 

Portsmouth, N. H., August 22d, 1862. 

My Dear Sir : — I have received your favor of yesterday's 
date inviting me in behalf of the Executive Committee to at- 
tend the Popham celebration on the 29th inst., and to respond 
to a sentiment on the early Piscataqua settlement. 

I regret to say that I am so circumstanced that it will be out 
of my power to be with you on that occasion. I thank you 
and the committee for an invitation wliich I would gladly ac- 
cept. 

If able to participate in your festivities the substance of my 
response would be : " If the Kennebec was colonized before 
the Piscataqua, the people on the banks of the Piscataqua will 
not be behind those on the banks of the Kennebec, in defend- 
ing those principles which led to the settlement and coloniza- 
tion of both." 

I hope you will not deem it impertinent in me to suggest 
that the Rev. Charles Burroughs, D. D., — one of my prede- 
cessors in the Presidency of the N. H. Historical Society, — 
resides in this city, and if the committee should think it proper 
to invite him, he would be likely to attend. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

W. H. Y. Hackett. 

Rev. A. D. Wheeler, D. D.. ^Ponshnm, Me. 



popham celebration. 239 

from william turner, esq. 

St. George's Society, } 
Montreal, C. E., August 22d, 1862. 'j 

Rev. Edward Ballard, 

Sir : — I am instructed by the President of this Society, (the 
Hon. George Moffatt), to acknowledge the receipt of a circular 
handed to him by John Lewis, Esq., the late President, incit- 
ing him to assist at a pul^lic celebration on the two hundred 
and fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the first English 
Colony on the shores of New England, Aug. 19th, 1607, &c. 

The President desires me to express his thanks for the kind 
invitation and his regret that other. engagements will not allow 
him to be present on an occasion so interesting. 

The invitation has, however, been forwarded to the First 
Vice President, J. J. Day, Esq., who is sojourning at Portland, 
or the vicinity, and who should it come to his hands in time, 
will doubtless do himself the pleasure of representing this 
Society on the occasion. 

I have the honor to be. Sir, 

Your very obedient servant, 

Wm. Turner, Secretary. 

FROM rev. dr. hedge. 

Brookline, Mass., Aug. 20th, 1862. 
To the Executive Committee for the celebration of the Anni- 
versary of the Settlement of Fort St. George. 
Gentlemen : — I acknowledge with many thanks your favor 
of the 12th inst., inviting me to be present at the celebration 
of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the first settle- 
ment of the English in New England. , 

The occasion is one of great interest, and like all attempts 
to uncover and illustrate the antiquities of our country, it has 



240 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

my warmest sympathy. I was too long a citizen of Maine not 
to feel a personal pride in her past, as well as in her present 
and her future. I glory in her historical memorials as well as 
in her industrial and civil promise. 

Tliat early settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec carrying 
the history of New England farther back by several years than 
the landing of the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, and bringing 
it near to the beginning of the 17tli century, is a fact well 
worthy of commemoration as the first act in the annals of 
Maine. I rejoice to know that historical interest and patriotic 
feeling have combined to give it the prominence it deserves. 

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be present 
with you on that occasion, but circumstances beyond my con- 
trol will oblige me to forego that privilege. 

Hoping that the celebration proposed may prove every way 
successful and satisfactory to all concerned in it, 

I am, gentlemen, your obliged servant, 

Fred. H. Hedge. 

Messrs. B. C. Bailey, J. 0. Fiske, Oliver Moses, &c., &c. 

FROM president KING. 

Columbia College, N. Y. ) 
President's Room, 25th Aug., 1862. j 

Gentlemen : — Your invitation to be present at the public 
celebration " of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of 
the founding of the first English Colony on the shores of New 
England," on the 29th inst., finds me and my household in 
deep affliction at the loss, within a few days, of my youngest son, 
who had just reached the age of manhood, with every promise 
of a vigorous, useful, and honorable life. 

Under other circumstances the opportunity thus offered to 
me would have been eagerly embraced to show my affection 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 241 

and respect for those founders ; and to claim, in right of my 
father's blood and birthright, some share in the inherited glories 
of such an ancestry. 

May that star which has thus far directed the progress of 
your great Commonwealth, which on every ocean has guided 
in safety your multitudinous shipping, and which now burns 
anew with undimmed lustre in the van of the great battle wag- 
ing by the freemen of our land for the preservation of its liber- 
ties and Union, continue to shed its heavenly light and life 
over the strong-handed and high-hearted race, whose begin- 
nings you meet to commemorate. 

In the bonds of a common fellowship, 

I remain, very truly yours, 

Chas. King. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary^ 8fc. 

FROM REV. DR. BEARDSLEY. 

SECRETARY OF NEW HAVEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

New Haven, Conn., August 26th, 1862. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : — My engagements will not allow me 
the pleasure of being present at the " public celebration on the 
two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the 
first English Colony on the shores of New England." 

I regret this the more as I take special interest in all histori- 
cal researches, and in all gatherings designed to perpetuate the 
memory and the deeds of the first settlers of our country. Al- 
though the colony of Popham, which sought to transfer the 
religion and civilization of England to the wilds of North 
America, met with disaster and became disheartened, — still I 
am glad that the enterprise is to be commemorated at this late 
day ; and that henceforth it will be more widely known how 
that the shores of the Kennebec thirteen years before the land- 
ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, echoed to the voice of a 
17 



242 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Protestant faith, and to the sound of the pure and fervent 
Liturgy of the Church of England. 

Maine, within my recollection, has risen from a province in 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the dignity of a great 
State, and while there may be no descendants of those who be- 
longed to the colony at Sagadahoc, you have the descendants 
of noble men who shared in the earlier perils of our govern- 
ment, as their sons share in the later. 

In looking over the names of your " Executive Committee," 
I thought of Jacob Bailey at Pownalborough — a man of many 
trials and persecutions — and of Wheeler at Georgetown, for 
several years his only counselor and co-worker in the missions 
of the Church of England in Maine. I am not aware that 
your State contains persons of my own name — but I know 
that just over the line, in the British territory, there ivere 
branches that shot off from the parent tree in the storms of the 
revolution ; and if they have since sprung up and had a comely 
growth, it will redound to the credit of an honored ancestor ; 
but if otherwise, it will not be the first time in history that the 
branch has so degenerated as to yield no wholesome fruit. 

Thanking you for your invitation and wishing you a pleasant 
and successful gathering., 

I remain. 
Very truly your friend and brother, 

E. E. Beardsley. 

Eev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

FROM HON. MR. STEWART OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY. 

Washington, D. C, August 19th, 1862. 

Sir : — I regret that my engagements here will prevent my 
being able to avail myself of the invitation which you have 
done me the honor to address to me, in the name of the Exec- 
utive Committee, who have undertaken to manage the approach- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 243 

ing public celebration of the founding of the first English Col- 
ony on the shores of New England. 

I may also mention that Lord Lyons' absence in England, 
renders it impossible for him to be present upon that interest- 
ing occasion. 

Begging that while you express my regret to the Committee, 
you will, at the same time, convey to them my thanks for their 
courteous invitation, 

I am, sir, your most obedient, 

Humble servant, 

W. Stuart. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Brunswick, Me. 

PROM THE late DR. FRANCIS. 

I 

Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 20, 1862. 

Gentlemen : — Accept, I beg you, my very grateful acknowl- 
edgments for the honor you have done me in extending to me 
an invitation to attend the " public celebration of the found- 
ing of the first English Colony," &c., on the 29th of August. 
Few things, I assure you, would gratify me so much as to be 
with you in the enjoyment of an occasion so full of important 
historical interest. I regret, however, that in all probability 
I shall be obliged to deny myself this pleasure, as the time 
when the celebration is to take place coincides with the com- 
mencement of the nexi term in our Divinity School, the duties 
of which will require my presence here. I hope, I doubt not, 
that you, and all who may be with you, will enjoy highly the 
reminiscences and the grateful excitement of the day. 
Most respectfully yours, 

CoNVERS Francis. 

Messrs, B; C. Bailey, J. 0. Fiske, (fee. 



244 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

FROM THE REV. H. G. STORER. 

Oak Hill, Scarborough, Aug. 25, 1862. 

Dear Sir : — Please accept my tlianks for the honor done 
me by your invitation of the 12th inst. Twenty-five years 
since, I was pleasantly attacked by what is sometimes styled 
" the Antiquarian Fever ; " and in its earliest stages became 
deeply interested in the Popham settlement at the mouth of 
the Kennebec, — painfully interested in it, because Maine 
came so near to being " the mother of New England," and as 
old as " the old Dominion " itself, and yet lost that honor by 
a sad mishap. From that day to this I have never ceased to 
regret that lost wreath of laurel, which should have hung on 
the trunk of our Pine ; and have been so long waiting for an 
auspicious day on which to visit the spot where our " Plymouth 
Rock" first appeared for. one dreary winter, and then re- 
appeared elsewhere. Great is my regret that I cannot visit it 
on the day, when its attractions will be so greatly multiplied 
by the presence of so much learning, wisdom, wit, and beauty ; 
but the loss is all my ovm, exclusively, and may the sun shine 
brightly on the more favored ones who shall be there. 

Gratefully yours, 

H. G. Storer. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

FROM JOS.' DOW, ESQ., PRESIDENT, OF N. H. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Hampton, N. H., Aug. 23, 1862. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, 

Dear Sir: — Your circular, of the 12th inst., has been 
received. I am very much obliged to the Executive Commit- 
tee and yourself, for the honor of an invitation to be present 
" at the public celebration on' the two hundred and fifty-fifth 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 2-15 

anniversary of the founding of the first English Colony on the 
shores of New England," to take place on the 29th instant. 

The settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec, near the close 
of the summer of 1607, although it failed to be permanent, is, 
neyertheless important as a historical event. It is well, there- 
fore, that it should be remembered ; and I am glad that now, 
after the lapse of so many years, measures have been taken 
for having it celebrated in an appropriate manner. I feel as- 
sured that the occasion will be one of interest and pleasure to 
all who may enjoy the rich privilege of joining in the celebra- 
tion. It would afford me a great deal of pleasure to be with 
you on this occasion, but a previous engagement at Concord, 
N. H., will compel me to forego this pleasure. 

Yours sincerely, 

Joseph Dow. 

FROM JOHN E. GODFREY, ESQ. 

Bangor, Aug. 25th, 1862. 

Gentlemen : — I regret that my engagements at the time, 
will prevent my accepting your kind invitation to be present at 
the " Celebration on the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniver- 
sary of the founding of the first English Colony on the shores 
of New England, at the site of Fort Popham," on the 29th inst. 

I well remember the feeling of regret I experienced, when 
first reading the history of this colony, many years ago, that 
it had not succeeded, arid given to our good State the advan- 
tages of the first permanent settlement of New England, which 
afterward accrued to Massachusetts. And I was disappointed 
at the want of pluck and perseverance in the colonists. But 
when I examined further, and became satisfied of the charac- 
ter and objects of the patrons of the colony, I was not sur- 
l)rised at its failure. 



246 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The principal individuals of the projectors of this enterprise 
were Lord John Popliam and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Tlie 
former was an individual whose varied life had given him, at 
the age of seventy, a singularly marked character. He was of 
gentle parentage. In childhood he was sickly, but, having 
been stolen by gipsies, the life he led with them invigorated 
his constitution, and he was afterward strong and athletic. 
He was educated at Oxford in classical and theological lore*, 
then put to the study of the law, when he became a drunlcard, 
a gambler, and a highwayman. At thirty he changed his 
course of life, and applied himself so closely to study, that he 
became, in the estimation of Lord Coke, a " consummate law- 
yer." Many important offices were conferred upon him, and 
finally that of Lord Chief Justice of England. In the dis- 
charge of the duties of this office he exercised so great sever- 
ity, that he acquired the title of the " hanging judge ; " and 
he had such regard for the emoluments, that he accumulated 
an immense fortune. His coadjutor. Sir Ferdinando, was an 
adventurer. 

Under the auspices of such men, it was not difficult to un- 
derstand the objects of the enterprise. Nor was it difficult to 
believe that the forty-five of the hundred colonists who passed 
the winter near the " site of Fort Popham," were actuated by 
no higher motive, such as influenced the Plymouth colonists. 
Had they been men of strong character and high principle, 
like the Massachusetts men, and come here for " conscience 
sake," the fate of the colony would have been very diffi3rent, 
notwithstanding the death of Sir John Popham and his brother 
George, the President of the colony, and the return of the sec- 
ond in command, Sir Raleigh Gilljert, to look after a fortune 
that had fallen to him ; and, notwithstanding the destruction of 
their store-house and provisions by fire, the supposed " sterility 
and inhospitality of tlie climate," and the fear of the savages. 
And its fate would probably have been different, if the colo- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 247 

nists had had even the enterprise of Gorges, who declared 
that, " as to the coldness of the clime, he had too much expe- 
rience in the world to be frighted by such a blast, as knowing 
many great kingdoms and large territories more northerly 
seated, and by many degrees colder, were plentifully inhabited, 
and divers of them stored with no better commodities than 
these parts afford." 

States must be founded by the right men in order to succeed. 
Had these been the right men, Maine, instead of becoming for 
a time an appendage to the mother State, would have been it- 
self the mother State with all its glorious traditions. 

It is well to celebrate important epochs in the history of our 
State. There are some such. We could wish that her history 
were more glorious. She is, however, destined to have a glori- 
ous history. With such inexhaustible resources, with such a 
vigorous, enterprismg, intelligent, and virtuous population as 
she possesses, she must, at some future day, become a leading 
State upon this continent, and, perhaps, the leading State of 
our great galaxy, again to be united, and to be restored to its 
former splendor. In the meantime, let us do justice to the 
history she possesses ; 

'' Nothing extenuate, 
Nor set down aught in malice." 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

John E. Godfrey. 

Messrs. B. C. Bailey and others. Executive Committee. 

FROM HON. MR. HALL, PRESIDENT VT. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

North Bennington, Vt., Aug. 23d, 1862. 
Dear Sir : — It would afford me much gratification to attend 
your celebration of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary 
of the first decided English attempt to establish a permanent 



248 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

colony on the shores of New England, but other engagements 
with which I cannot dispense, must prevent it. Trusting that 
the efforts of your people and their committee to call to mind, 
and to cause to be duly appreciated, the merits and sufferings 
of the Pophams and Gilberts and their associates of the ancient 
time, will be entirely and agreeably successful. 
I am, dear sir, 

Very respectfully yours, 

HiLAND Hall. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

PROM RIGHT REV. BISHOP M^ILVAINE. 

Cincinnati, Ohio, Aug. 26, 1862. 
Dear Sir : — It was only yesterday that I received the note 
of the Executive Committee, inviting me to the approaching 
celebration of the founding of the first English Colony on the 
shores of New England. I know well with what pleasure I 
should meet the thousands whom that interesting occasion will 
call together. But circumstances do not allow me to do more 
than express my kindest wishes for their mutual enjoyment, 
and my hope that, gathered around that birth-place of New 
England population and of the influences which have contrib- 
uted so powerfully to form the character and promote the pros- 
perity of our whole country, they may depart thence animated 
with new zeal to put down and destroy the wicked rebellion by 
which the very being of our country is now so imminently en- 
dangered. I remain, very truly yours, 

Charles P. McIlvaine. 

PROM G. P. HOUGHTON, ESQ., SEC'y OP VT. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

St. Albans, Vt., 20th Aug., 1862. 
Tlev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

Rev. and Dear Sir :— For the courteous invitation extended 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 249 

through you to me to attend the public celebration of the found- 
ing of the first English Colony on the shores of New England, 
I desire to return my grateful acknowledgments. I regard the 
invitation as a compliment to the Vermont Historical Society, 
whose Recording Secretary it is my good fortune to be. That 
Society as well as the Maine Historical Society, which has the 
advantage of your services as Recording Secretary, is active- 
ly engaged in " bringing from darkness into light," such facts 
as may tend to illustrate her earliest and most interesting his- 
tory. The result of the action of the Historical Societies in 
New England in those departments of knowledge, which have 
but few attractions to the general student and common reader, 
can hardly be over-estimated. It is highly gratifying to per- 
ceive daily proofs that a taste for historical research is increas- 
ing throughout the country ; and perhaps, no better mode for 
awakening a love for antiquity can be devised than to celebrate 
in a fit manner, such events in American history, as the one 
you propose to celebrate on the 29th day of August, 1862, at 
the mouth of the old Sagadahoc. 

As prior engagements will preclude the possibility of my be- 
ing present on this interesting occasion, will you pardon me 
for expressing a hope that a full and detailed report of this 
celebration will be prepared and suitably puljlished and be dis- 
tributed far and near, that the pleasure to which the occasion 
gives birth may be enjoyed, in a modified manner, by those 
unable to be present ? 

Cherishing a lively remembrance of your past courtesy, and 
thanking your Executive Committee anew for their polite invi- 
tation, I am. Rev. aiid dear sir. 

Your friend and ob't servant, 

George F. Houghton. 



250 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

FROM GEORGE POPHAM SEWALL, ESQ. 

Bangor, 27th August, 1862. 

Sir : — I regret to inform you that the discharge of pubHc 
duties preclude the possibility of my "being present at the Fort 
Popham celebration. 

I regret it the more, as my first recollection of life was at 
the spot on which you will gather, and I have the honor to bear 
the name of its first great and distinguished tenant. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your most obedient, 



G. P. Sewall. 



Hon. J. A. Poor, Portland. 



PROM MR. EZRA ABBOT. 

Cambridge, Mass., August 21, 1862. 

Dear Sir : — I have had the honor to receive from you an 
invitation to attend the public celebration, to take place on the 
29th inst., of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the 
founding of the first English Colony on the shores of New Eng- 
land. Begging you to accept my thanks for your polite invita- 
tion, I regret to say that my engagements are such that it will 
be out of my power to be present on this interesting occasion. 

The historical event which you propose to commemorate, 
might justify the proud motto on the shield of our native State ; 
but the promptitude of her response to the call of the country 
in its hour of peril, the gallantry of her sons on the field of 
battle, and the noble spirit of patriotism which everywhere stirs 
the hearts of her men and women, show that she is still 
determined to be found in the van. Let us not doubt tliat the 



POPHABI CELEBRATION. 251 

upas of treason shall fall, when the lumbermen of Maine lay 
their axes at the root of the tree ! 

With great respect, I am. 

Yours truly, 

Ezra Abbot. 
Rev, Edward Ballard, Secretary^ S^c. 

FROM CAPT. GEORGE PRINCE. 

Washington, D. C, August 25th, 1862. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

Dear Sir : — I have this day received your invitation to at- 
tend the public celebration of the two hundred and fifty-fifth 
anniversary of the founding of the first English Colony on the 
shores of New England. 

Circumstances beyond my control, will forbid me the plea- 
sure of being present on that highly interesting occasion ; but 
I may be permitted to say that I fully believe that the site of 
Fort Popham, is near the place of the original Fort St. George, 
constructed more than two centuries and a half ago, hj the 
Popham and Gilbert colony. They entered the mouth of the 
" Sachadahoc," passing in by the island of " Satquin," names 
yet retained, and familiar to us all. They landed on the west 
side of the river near its mouth, on what is described as " al- 
most an island." 

Hunncwell's Point seems to answer to the description better 
than any other locality ; and the antiquarians, who, in the be- 
ginning of the present century, or earlier, made observations, 
and thought they found evidences that the colony was located 
on Stage Island, must have been deceived by the remains of 
some ancient fishing station, but of a more recent date than the 
Popham colony. 

Two hundred and fifty-five years have hidden all traces of 



252. MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

this little pioneer band, as effectually as the tide waters cover 
the anchoring ground of their gallant ships, the " Gift of God," 
and the " Mary and John." 

The discovery of the river the year before by Martin Prinn, 
bid fair to turn the tide of emigration northward, so flattering 
was the account he gave of it ; and Capt. Popham's letter to 
the king speaking of the nutmeg and cinnamon trees abound- 
ing in the region, was calculated to increase the excitement, 
until the voluntary return of the whole colony in 1608, again 
turned the current southward. 

I remain, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Geo. Prince. 

from the hon. judge harvey. 

Concord, N. H., August 27th, 1862. 

Dear Sir : — I must thank you and the Executive Committee 
for an invitation to be present at the anniversary of the cele- 
bration of an important event in the history of the early settle- 
ment of the country on the 29th of this month. 

I am sorry to say that I am prevented from availing myself 
of the pleasure it would give me to be present. 

It is well for us, I imagine, to keep in remembrance events 
connected with the early settlement of our country, though 
they be in times gone by ; for amidst the gloom that now hangs 
over us, it is impossible to say, what, of the future, we may 
wish to remember. 

Your obedient servant, 

Matthew Harvey. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Sen-efan/, i)'r. 



POPH-AM CELEBRATION. 253 

FROM THE REV. DR. HALLAM. 

New London, Ct., August 22, 1862. 

Rev. and Dear Sir : — It would give me great pleasure to 
join your celebration at the mouth of the Kennebec, and help 
you convince the world that there are other people deserving 
to be remembered besides the " Pilgrim Fathers." It is just 
the thing I should like, but I fear it is quite out of my power. 

You must, therefore, accept the assurance of my thanks for 
your courteous invitation, and of my sympathy in the object 
you contemplate. 

I trust the occasion will be altogether a success, and prove 
alike pleasant and useful. 

"Very truly yours, 

Rob. a. Hallam. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

FROM PRINCIPAL DAWSON. 

McGiLL College, \ 
Montreal, August 19th, 1862. \ 

My Dear Sir : — I beg to thank you for the kind invitation 
extended to me in yours of the 12th inst., and also for the in- 
teresting pamphlet by which it was accompanied. 

I regret, however, that my engagements here will not permit 
me to avail myself of your kindness. 

Trusting that your celebration maybe eminently successful, 
and that it may tend to revive and perpetuate the memory of 
those old glories of the English race, which unite the hearts of 
Americans and Englishmen, through the bonds of their common 
ancestry, 

I am, truly yours, 

J. W. Dawson. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, SfC- 



254 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

FROM THE HON. WM. WRIGHT. 

ADVOCATE GENERAL OP THE PROVINCE OP NEW BRUNSWICK. 

St. John, N. B., August 25tb, 18G2. 

Sir : — I have postponed until now acknowledging the receipt 
of your favor of the 12th inst., in hopes that I might so have 
arranged my affairs as to have enabled me to accept the very 
kind invitation of the Executive Committee of the public his- 
torical celebration to take place at the site of Fort Popham on 
the 29th instant. 

To a native born Englishman and one sincerely desirous of 
cultivating the most friendly relations with the people of the 
United States, and those of Maine in particular, the intended 
celebration is pregnant with lively interest. It is, therefore, 
with profound regret that I find myself unable to take part 
in it. 

I have the honor to be. Sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

Wm. Wright. 

Kev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, Sfc. 

FROM GEN. WALBRIDGE. 

New York, August 25th, 1862. 
Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, t^^c, Bnmswick, Me. 

My Dear Sir : — No greater pleasure could be afforded me, 
than to witness the interesting ceremonies to transpire at Fort 
St. George, on the 29th inst., under the guardianship of the 
committee you represent, and whose generous invitation I take 
the earliest moment to acknowledge. 

I, however, regret that other prior engagements will prevent 
my going and pressing, for the first time, my feet upon a soil 
that has reared so many illustrious sons, who have adorned 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 255 

every department in government, art, trade, science, learning, 
and business, wherever genius, energy, capacity, industry, and 
fidelity have secured their legitimate reward. 

I the more regret it, that I shall not enjoy the intellectual 
inspiration of your eminent fellow-citizen, whose learning and 
devotion to the interests of his native State, have made him 
the worthy orator of your patriotic anniversary. 

With sentiments of respect, 

Yours sincerely, 

Hiram Walbridge. 

from rufus mcintire, esq. 

Parsonsfield, August 19 til, 1862. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary, 4*c. 

Sir: — Your note inviting me to attend the two hundred 
and fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the first English 
colony in New England, on the 29th inst., is received. 

I regret that I shall not be able to be present and take 
part in the celebration on the interesting occasion pro- 
posed in your note. I rejoice to witness a wakening sense to 
the facts of our early history, too long neglected. Many me- 
morials of the enterprise of European adventurers to these 
shores, might and should now be gathered, as they are fast 
fading into forgetfulness, and unless rescued will soon be lost. 
My health is not very firm, and makes it inconvenient to atr- 
tend on this occasion. 

Yours respectfully, <fec., 

RuFus McIntire. 



256 MEMORIAL VOLUME, 



FROM REV. J. S. C, ABBOT. 



New Haven, Conn., August IStli, 1862. 

Rev. Edward Ballard, 

My Dear Sir: — It is with deep regret that I am obliged to 
decline the invitation to join in your interesting celebration on 
the 29th proximo. I should very "much enjoy meeting my 
friends in a place of so much historic interest, to review those 
scenes which have been so carefully collected by our beloved 
and so much lamented friend, Mr. McKeen. My own duties 
are now so pressing at home, that every hour comes freighted 
with double duty ; and inclination must be laid aside for home 
employments. 

Please present my acknowledgments to the gentlemen asso- 
ciated with you for your polite invitation, which I would have 
been only too happy to have accepted had it been in my power. 
With the hope of a very pleasant occasion for all who may as- 
semble at Fort Popham, 

I am, my dear sir, 

Yours very truly, 

John S. C. Abbot, 

per J. W. Abbot. 

PROM H. B. DAWSON, ESQ. 

i 

MoRRiSANiA, N. Y., October 4th, 1862. 

My Dear Sir: — I have just received your circular, dated 
August 12th, 1862, inviting me to attend the public celebra- 
tion of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the found- 
ing of the first English Colony on the shores of New England, 
and I beg you will accept, for yourself and for the committee, 
my thanks therefor. 

The mis-direction of your note (to New York city), has pre- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 257 

vented mc from enjoying tlic privilege of meeting with you on 
the occasion referred to ; but I have been much gratified with 
a careful report of the ceremonies in one of your papers, as 
well as with a verbal description by one of your members, — 
my friend Mr. Poor, — and I congratulate you and the Society 
on the result of its judicious efforts. 

Trusting that the cause of Historical Literature will be bene- 
fited, and the claims of the Society advanced among the peo- 
ple of Maine, from this recognition of one of her holidays, 

I remain, dear sir, 

Very truly yours, 

Henry B. Dawson. 
Rev. Edward Ballard- 



FROM C. J. PETERSON, ESQ., PHILADELPHIA. 

RiDGEWOOD, NEAR READING, Pa. 

Dear Sir : — I have just received your polite invitation for 
the celebration of the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary 
of the first English colony in New England. Had it come to 
hand earlier, I should have been able, probably, to be with 
you ; for I have been in New England for several weeks, and 
would have liked to have protracted my stay for such a purpose. 
I found your letter on my table last night, — it having been 
forwarded to me here from my office in Philadelphia, to await 
my return home. 

I feel the more interest in your celebration, because I am, 
on my maternal side, descended from a New England stock, — 
my ancestors having removed to Massachusetts as early as 
A. D. 1632. "We Pennsylvanians, even when not of New Eng- 
land blood, are proud of our " Yankee cousins," and send 
greeting, now as in '76, from Independence Hall to " old Fan- 

18 



258 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

euil," ill the words of Webster, — " Union and Lil^ertj, now 
and forever, one and inseparable." 

Very sincerely, 

Chas. J. Peterson. 
Rev. E. Ballard, Secretary Public Historical Celebration. 

FROM J. LIPPINCOTT, ESQ. 

CoLUMBLV, Pa., August 16, 18(32. 

To Rev. Edward Ballard, Secretary of the Public Historical 
Celebration. 

Dear Sir : — It is with pleasure I acknowledge the honor of 
your invitation to be present at the celebration at Fort Popham 
on the 29tli inst. ; but with deep regret that circumstances 
will not permit me to share in the festi\ities of the occasion. 

I can but contemplate with pride the generous spirit that 
will not suffer these historic memories to fade, — the persist- 
ence, which in conflict with circumstances, will continue to 
draw from the " lap of ages," and give to them tangible ex- 
pression, — and those Ci^nsidcrations which are our richest 
legacies ; and which, at all times, it is eminently fit that we 
should entertain. 

Especially does the event, the anniversary of which gives 
rise to this proposed celebration, deserve our attention, — an 
event, which though born amid discouragements, and fostered 
in doubt, has nevertheless ripened into character so potent, 
into results so glorious. 

May we never fail to perpetuate the memory of our humble 
beginning, nor prove recreant to the earnest faith of our fath- 
ers ; but like them, ever rely on Liberty, Justice, and Truth. 
Then will the principles which have so gloriously developed 
the resources of our strength never fail us. For from their 
adequate might, victories come. And though Justice briefly 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 259 

slumbers, yet from her latent fires there shall flash out the 
lightnings of Inherent power, till Liberty, again enthroned, 
shall raise our banner, the emblem of her life, over a chastened 
but a better nation. 

Hoping the occasion may prove one of eminent success, I 
remain vv'ith considerations of esteem, 

Your humble servant and fellow-citizen, 

JOTHAM LiPPINCOTT. 
FROM AARON HAYDEN, ESQ. 

Eastport, August 28, 1862. 

Gentlemen : — I regret that an absence from home pre- 
vented a seasonable answer to your note of August 12th, 
inviting me to act as a vice-president at the Historical Celebra- 
tion on the 29th inst. I regret still more that I am unable to 
accept an invitation by which I am so much honored. 

In a contest of priority between Kennebec and Plymouth, I 
may well stand neutral, being a native of Maine, and at the 
same time one of the legitimate resiilts of the " Courtship of 
John Alden." 

If I am allowed to offer a sentiment, I should say : 

" If the sons of the Northern Colonists do not preserve and perpetuate the 
Union and Constitution made with the Southern Colonists, Fort St. George and 
Plymouth Rock are not a full success." 

Very respectfully, 

Aaron Hayden. 

Hon. B. C. Bailey, and others, Executive Committee. 

FROM REV. W. S. BARTLETT. 

Chelsea, Mass., August 19th, 1862. 
Rev. and Dear Bro. : — In answer to your invitation as 
Secretary, &c., to be present at the celebration on the 29th 



260 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

inst,, I would say, that I anticipate much pleasure from 
sharing in these ceremonies. 

Allow me to make one or two suggestions, which, it may be, 
have already occurred to you. 

1. That a full and accurate narration of this celebration? 
with the names of those who may take part in it, be preserved, 
as of interest to those now on the stage, and of much more 
interest to those who shall come after us. 

2. That a competent artist l)e invited to take one or more 
photographic views of the company when assembled. Similar 
views were taken of the members of the Massachusetts Histori- 
cal Society when they visited Frederic Tudor, Esq., atNahant, 
some three years since. A number of those then present have 
since passed away, and the picture will probably increase in 
interest by the lapse of time. 

The artist who would be at Fort Popham on the 29tli would 
probably be remunerated for his trouble and expense by the 
sale of his pictures, as most of those present would be likely 
to purchase copies. 

Trusting that I may meet you at the mouth of the Sagada- 
hoc next week, I remain. 

Very truly yours, &c., 

Wm. S. Bartlett. 
The Rev. Edward Ballard. 

FROM HON. judge RICE. 

Augusta, August 22d, 1862. 
Rev. Edward Ballard. 

Dear Sir: — Your note of the 12th inst., inviting myself 
and ladies to be present at the public celebration on the two 
hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the first 
English colonv on the shores of New England, lias l3een re- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 261 

ceived. Official duties may prevent my personal attendance ; 
if so, I shall endeavor to be duly represented by " the ladies." 
Trusting that this celebration will bring out distinctly this 
initial j^oint in the history of the settlement of New England, 

I am, truly yours, 

R. D. Rice. 



FROM J. MAXWELL, ESQ. 

Bangor, August 16, 1862. 
Rev. Edward Ballard. 

Dear Sir : — Owing to urgent business, I am obliged to de- 
cline the invitation you have so kindly tendered me, to be 
present at the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the 
founding of the English colony on the New England shores. 

Although I cannot be there in person, yet when the 29th of 
August arrives, I shall feel that I am losing an opportunity to 
witness the anniversary of an event, which I look back upon 
as the era of that prosperity and Union-loving happiness which 
fully showed itself in the struggle for Independence, in 1776 ; 
and again, for the maintenance of that Independence so nobly 
gained by the Forefathers, by the valor and bravery of our 
sons in the army of the Union. 

Hoping that the day may be pleasant, and everything pass 
off as well as any could wish for, I remain. 

Yours truly, 

Jere. Maxwell. 



I 



The foregoing letters, selected out of some hundreds received 
by the committee, have had a place given to them in this vol- 



262 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

ume, to show the wide-spread interest in this commemoration 
of the " initial point in the history of the settlement of New 
England," and in the cultivation of historical pursuits in gene- 
ral ; as well as the deep sympathy expressed in many of them 
with the sufferings of our common country, and love for the 
Union. 



ADDITIONAL COMMUNICATIONS 



The following communications have been prepared and received 
while this volume was going through the press. Their subjects 
would have entitled them to an earlier position, if that had been 
possible; but it is believed they will make a valuable and interest- 
ing addition to the papers already presented. As intimated on a 
previous page, ^ they are now given here. 

P E M A Q U I D . 

BY JOHN JOHNSTON, LL. D., 
PROF. OF NATURAL SCIENCE IN THE WESLETAN UNIVERSITY, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 

It is proposed in this paper to give briefly a description of the 
place, called by the Anglo-Indian name of Pemaquid; and also of 
the ancient ruins . yet to be found there, — to notice some of the 
more important points in its early history, the effects of which have 
come down to our own times, — and then to trace the history of 
the four forts which were successively erected very nearly on the 
same site. To this will be added brief notices of two of the native 
Indians, — Sagamores of the place. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLACE. 

The island of Monhegan is one of tlie most prominent land- 
marks on the coast of New England east of Cape Cod, and 
could not have failed to attract the attention of the early navi- 

1 Page 217. 



264 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

« 

gators, especially when they approached this part of the coast 
from the east, as most of them did. But the same remark 
would be true if they approached from the west, as was 
the case with Capt. Weymouth in 1605. In plain view from 
this island, and about ten miles distant, in a northwest direc- 
tion, is Pcmaquid Point ; which, as it is the nearest point of 
the main land, could not fail to be early visited. 

Just at the point, boats could not land safely, except in the 
finest weather ; but three miles north of the extreme point, on 
the east side, is New Harbor, which is only a small cove, but 
still affords a good landing place for boats, and a tolerably 
good harbor for small vessels at all times. On the west side, 
between three and fou.r miles from the extreme point, is Pema- 
quid Harbor, which was destined to be the scene of most of 
the important transactions here during the first century of its 
occupation by civilized man. This harbor, though the en- 
trance is rather narrow, is perfectly protected from the sea on 
every side, and is one of the safest havens on the coast at all 
seasons of the year. 

This is the precise locality generally known in modern times 
by the name of Pcmaquid ; but by the early writers, it is be- 
lieved, the nam,e was often used to designate the whole coast 
from George's Islands west to the mouth of the Kennebec. 
The Indian name probably was Pemaquideag, ^ and signified 
" long- point ov promontory.''^ 

The peculiar formation of the harbor of Pcmaquid is very 
interesting to the geologist, as being separated from the sea on 
the south side by an immense trap dyke ; which, like an arti- 
ficial breakwater, protects it from the waves, but allows a suf- 
ficient space for the passage of ships. The rocks of this whole 

1 The more important variations in tlie orthograpliy of this name are the fol- 
lowing: Pencoit, (Biard); Penaquid, (Smith); Pemquit, (Rkle) ; Paincuit, 
(Cadillac) ; Pemaquin, (N. Y. Col. Doc.) ; Pemicuit/ (Bowen Geog.) ; Pera- 
kiieag, Pemakeag, Pemmaquideag, and a few other modes by other writers. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 265 

region are of the kind called by geologists, mctamorphic, 
with frequent masses and veins of granite and quartz, and 
occasional veins or dykes of trap or basalt. The. shores in all 
the vicinity, denuded as they have been by the long dashing of 
the waves, afford an excellent opportunity for the study of 
these rocks ; and in many places the peculiar relationship of 
the stratified gneiss and the intruded granite, quartz, and trap 
is beautifully exhibited. The upheaval of the stratified gneiss 
and mica slate, has been in lines nearly north and south, the 
axial lines being continued down into the promontories ; and 
between these the tide flows up a greater or less distance. 
Pemaquid Point is the extreme point of one of these promon- 
tories, having the Muscongus Bay on the east, and John's Bay 
and the Damariscotta River on the west. 

The dj^ke of trap or basalt, alluded to above, makes its ap- 
pearance on the west side of the harbor, just at the head of 
John's Bay, and extends a distance of several rods nearly cast 
towards the site of the old fort ; but is suddenly Ijroken off, as 
if to allow a sufficient spaqe for an entrance to the harbor. 
This rock is very hard, and less liable to be worn away by the 
action of the elements than' the adjacent mctamorphic rocks; 
and it is to this cause, probably, we are to attribute the exist- 
ence of this curious sea-wall. 

It is familiar to geologists, that these dykes of trap may 
often be traced, usually in straight lines, to a distance of many 
miles ; but this one has not been sufficiently explored to enaljle 
us to determine its extent. Evidences of its existence a few 
rods west from the harbor are readily seen ; and probably it 
might be discovered at other places farther west or southwest. 
About three miles to the northeast, near the head of Long 
Cove, a narroAV trap dyke is found, which is proI)al>ly a con- 
tinuation of the same one ; and again it is seen at a place on 
the shore, half a mile north of the extremity of Long Cove 
Point. An old man, who formerly lived in the vicinity, 



266 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

though knowing nothing of tlic science of geology, recognized 
the peculiarities of the trap rocks in this place last mentioned, 
calling them the " Indigo- Rocks." Those who have noticed the 
peculiar form and appearance of blocks of indigo, as the article 
is imported, would not fail to observe the resemblance. 

This projecting sea-wall of basalt at Pemaquid Harbor, 
the early writers often call the " Barbacan," from its sup- 
posed resemblance to certain walls or watch-towers, which 
in ancient times were erected in connection with fortifications, 
and called by this name. A particular locality in the city of 
London was long known as the " Barbacan," and a place of 
worship was maintained there by some of the early dissenters. 
It may be that the name is still applied to the place. 

The several forts, — not less than four, — which were suc- 
cessively erected here, it is believed, were all on the east side 
of the entrance to the harbor, and nearly opposite to the trap 
dyke or sea-wall just described, but rather south of it, as was 
required by the peculiar conformation of the surface. This 
point of land, which has been the scene of so many important 
events, including a number of bloody conflicts, is really a 
small promontory, made so by an indentation from John's Bay 
on the south, and a small cove on the north, connected with 
the harbor. This was formerly called Cox's Cove, from the 
circumstance that a descendant, probably a son of Wil- 
liam Cox, one of the witnesses to John Brown's deed from 
the Indian Sagamores, long lived there. The name is not 
often heard now, and does not appear on the recent map of 
Lincoln County. Between this cove and the indentation from 
John's Bay, alluded to above, the land is quite low, and no 
very considerable rise of the water would be required to cause 
it to flow over at this point, and change the peninsula into 
an island. 

Mr. Sewall descril)es the " peninsula, which was the site of 
the ancient town and fort of Pemaquid," as having obviously 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 267 

been made by " the sands and debris of the river, brouglit 
down and accumulated by the tides, in the rotary motion 
given by the interposing and curved shores of the Barbacan 
' point on the west, and the immense projecting strata of in- 
clined granite forming the eastern shore." He also speaks of 
the peninsuia as having once been an island, and connected 
with the main land by an " artificial way." But such specu- 
lations, in regard to the forces by which the present conforma- 
tion of any portion of the earth's surface was produced, 
amount to little ; for the reason, that on such points we really 
know, and can know but very little. And, besides, geologists 
would probably tell us, if this peninsula ever was an island, as 
supposed, it could only have been in that distant pre-Adamite 
time, known, as the " drift period," and then the theory of an 
" artificial way " becomes unnecessary. ^ 

FIRST VISITS OF THE WHITE MEN. 

The Anglicised Indian name, Pemaquid, occurs first in the 
writings of Strachey, who, in his account of the Popham ex- 
pedition, informs us that " about midnight (August 7th, 1607, 
0. S.) Capt. Gilbert caused his shipp's boat to be mannde with 
fourteen persons, and the Indian Skidwares, (brought into 
England by Capt. Wayman,) and rowed to the westward from 
their shipp, to the river of Pemaquid, which they found to be 
four leagues distant from the shipp, where she road. The In- 
dian brought them to the salvadges' houses, where they found 
a hundred men, women, and children ; and their commander, 
or sagamo, amongst them, named Nahanada, who had been 
brought likewise into England by Capt. Wayman, and returned 
thither by Capt. Hanam, setting forth for those parts and some 
part of Canada the year before. At their first comyng, the 
Indians betooke them to their armes, their bowes and arrowes ; 

1 Ancient Dominions of Maine, pp, 114, 115. 



268 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

but after Nabanacla had talked with Skid wares, and perceavcd 
that they were Englishmen, he himself came unto them and 
ynihraced them, and made them much welcome, and enter- 
tayned them with much chierfulness, and did they likewise 
him ; and after two howers thus enterchangeably spent, they 
returned abourd againe." This was Saturday, August 8th. 

The Monday following, Capt. Popliam, Capt. Gilbert, and 
fifty others, in two boats, made another excursion from the 
• ships to " the river of Pemaquid," taking with them Skid- 
wares a second time, who it seems, on the previous visit, made 
no attempt to escape from them. On their arrival, " Nahanada, 
with all his company of Indians," with arms in their hands, 
came out to greet them, but not without some shyness ; for, 
after an hour's intercourse, himself and company suddenly 
withdrew, taking with them Skidwares, who now chose to re- 
main with his old friends. The Englishmen spent the follow- 
ing night in the vicinity, and the next day returned to their 
ships, which " still road under St. George's Island." 

But we are not to suppose, that we have in this interesting 
account of Strachey, a description of the very earliest visit of 
Europeans to this place ; the language used plainly implies 
that the situation of places here, and in the vicinity was well 
understood by the leaders of the expedition ; and further, that 
the excursions of the boats to Pemaquid were only incidental 
to the principal olyect, which was to find their way to the 
" river Sachadehoc." 

To go back a little, it is altogether probable, that Capt. 
Hanam, l)y whom Nahanada was" restored to his home, was at 
Pemaquid in 160(3 ; Capt. Weymouth, in 1605 ; and Do Mont, 
also, in 1605. And we are informed by Purchas, (as is well- 
known,) that a French seaman, named Savalet, previous to the 
year 1609, had "made no less than forty-two voyages to this 
region. May wc not, then, conclude that Pcmacjuid and other 
prominent places on the coast wore knoAvn, at least to the fish- 



\ 

POPHAM CELEBRATION. 269 

ermen of western Europe some time before the close of the 
sixteenth century ; and perhaps as early as the beginning of 
the reign of Elizabeth. 

But while there seems to be sufficient evidence to warrant 
the above conclusion, there is also reason to believe that pre- 
vious to the voypge of • Weymouth, in 1605, there had been 
comparatively little intercourse between the natives and the 
strangers who annually made their appearance on the coast. 
As a good reason for this opinion, the fact may be mentioned, 
that up to this period, we have no information that any one 
had made any progress in learning the language of the natives. 
When* Weymouth's ship rode at anchor in " Pentecost Har- 
bor," (George's Island Harbor,) the natives visited him freely ; 
but no one, of either party, so far as we can learn, understood 
a word of the language of the other party. 

Soon after this period, we begin to have more full accounts 
of events transpiring on this coast ; as in the voluminous writ- 
ings of Capt. John Smith, and tlie less pretending and simple 
narrative of Capt. Levett ; but it is not our oljject liciie to 
enter into details. Capt. Levett made his voyage to this 
country late in the year 1623, first making the coast at 
the Isle of Shoals. From this place he cruised eastward as 
far as Cape N'ewagen, now Boothbay, where he saw many of 
the natives from Pemaquid, and learned that the place " had 
been granted to others ; " and determined, in consequence, to 
prosecute his voyage no further in this direction. 

By this he meant that a settlement of Europeans had already 
been commenced here ; but how old it was, we have no means 
of knowing. Capt. Dermcr, in pursuit of Hocroft, came to 
Monhegan in the spring of the year 1619, and found there two 
seamen who had spent a miscraljle winter on the island. They 
had been left at Saco the year before by Rocroft, and had, by 
some means not now known, found their way hero. From 
these circumstances, we may, without question, fix the first 



270 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

permanent occupation, of both Monliegan and Pemaquicl, as 
between the two dates of 1619 and 1623. 

In the summer of 1619, business was active at Monhegan ; 
and Dermer made preparations for his voyage from the island 
to Virginia, which lie made in the hitter part of the season, by- 
way of Long Ishmd Sound and Sandy Hook. 



ANCIENT RUINS. 



i 



The remains of the early settlements at Pemaquid Harbor 
and vicinity, still to be seen, are of considerable interest and 
importance. Many old cellars yet remain to indicate some- 
thing of the populousness of the place ; but many more, it is 
believed, have been entirely obliterated by the hand of im- 
provement. The old buryiiig-ground, where the dust of many 
of the edrly inhabitants reposes, is about forty rods northeast 
of the fort ; but, most unfortunately, the stones used to mark 
the places of the graves were only rough pieces found in the 
vicinity, and are without any inscriptions. And it is believed 
that very many of this kind have been from time to time re- 
moved, so that the very places of the graves are lost. The 
oldest grave that can now be determined, is entirely alone in a 
cultivated field, at a distance of several rods from the present 
cemetery .; and it is believed that the graves by which it was 
once surrounded have been leveled down by the plow. The 
stone which marks the place of this grave, is of the kind just 
described, and has rudely cut upon it, the letters H and M, 
(but they are cut together,, thus, HVT,) and the date of the 
year, which' some read 1625, but probably it should be read 
1695. All the other inscriptions are of a date subsequent to 
the last rebuilding of the fort, and the revival of the settle- 
ment by the English. 

A few rods southeast of the fort, but entirely _ concealed 
from view by several inches of loose earth and gravel, the sup- 



POPHAM CELEBEATION. 271 

posed ancient pavements are found. This is a subject upon 
whicli we cannot proceed too cautiously ; and it is a question 
whetlier sufficient explorations have yet been made to enable 
us to decide satisfactorily whether they are to be considered 
real artificial pavements, and still less to determine their 
age and the purpose for which they were laid. It is certain, 
however, that at several points in the locality mentioned, by 
removing some six or ten inches of very loose black earth and 
gravel, a regular layer of stones is brought to view, wonder- 
fully like modern pavements, except that the stones are smaller 
than those now generally used. They are very uniform in 
size, and present the apjoearance of water-worn pebbles, like 
those found upon the shore. How extensive the pavement is, 
and whether it would be found to indicate the existence, at 
some former time, of regular streets, or whether it may have 
served some purpose in connection with the fort, are questions 
which must be left until further and more accurate investio-a- 
tions have been made. ^ 

1 The " Ex-Editor " of the Eastern Times, who explored the place in 1858, 
(see number for Sept. 17, 1858,) expresses himself as fully satisfied that these 
are the remains of ancient streets, the direction of which he can determine. 
But the writer has not been able to satisfy himself so fully. Certain it is that 
in two or three places seen by the writer, the pavement looked wonderfully 
like a real artificial work ; but the existence and direction of regular streets 
could not be so well made out. It is proper, however, to say that the field at 
the time was covered with growing corn, so that extensive explorations could 
not well be made, even if the party had gone tliere properly prepared for tlie 
purpose. 

But the " Ex-Editor," is mistaken in saying, as he does in substance, that 
" the traditions of the oldest inhabitants," say nothing on the subject. Sulli- 
van (Hist, of Maine, p. IGl) alludes to it ; and the writer well remembers often 
to have heard several of the old inhabitants speak of the supposed pavements ; 
and during the winter of 1828-9, while boarding for a time in the family of the 
late Capt. John Nickels, who was born and spent nearly his whole life almost 
on the very site of the old fort, had several conversations with him concerning 
the history and traditions of the place. On the subject of these pavements, ho 
always was careful to speak very hypothetically, indicating considerable doubt 
in his mind in regard to them. He expressed the opinion that the date on the 
gravestone above described should be read lf.05, and not 1G25. 



272 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

At the place -whero these supposed pavements are found, the 
surface of the ground is a little lower than in the immediate 
vicinity ; and it is easy to conceive that the loose material now 
covering the pavements may have been washed there by the 
rains, but this cannot be said of the street which, it is claimed, 
began " near the easterly bastion of the old fort," and ran in 
a north-easterly direction towards the old burying ground. 
This, if a street, passed directly on the crest of the ridge, and 
the rains would constantly wash all loose material aw^ay from 
it rather than to it ; yet for a distance of more than forty rods 
in the direction mentioned, by the use of a crow-bar, we can 
feel that there are many loose stones a little distance beneath 
the surface, arranged in such a manner as to indicate the ex- 
istence of a street or road. But it is to be kept in mind that 
the soil here is stony ; and we are, therefore, specially liable to 
be deceived in these explorations. 

On the west side of the harbor, and a mile or so northerly 
from the fort, we find the remains of an old structure, the 
character of which we cannot now determine. It may have 
been nothing more than a dwelling house ; but among the 
rubbish some pieces of a kind of freestone occur, which are of 
a character not to be found among the metamorphic rocks of 
this region. They were, without question, brought here from 
abroad, and very possibly from Europe. 

It is said that several copper coins were found here some 
years ago ; but they have not been preserved. Common re- 
port says that the su])erscriptions upon them were not in 
English. 

Fragments of tobacco-pipes are abundant among the rubbish 
here, as at other places in the vicinity, giving us some indica- 
tions in regard to the habits of the people here in the olden 
time. 

Near by, i)ortions of the soil, which, it is believed, have not 
been disturbed in modern times, give evidence of having been 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 273 

cultivated by the early settlers ; and it has been suggested, 
that the mode of tillage suggests a Dutch rather than English 
origin. 

In the same field, in a low, wet place, are the remains of 
an ancient tannery ; and pieces of plank forming the vats, and 
even pieces of leather, well preserved, were found there a few 
years ago. 

Going another mile northeast from this place, we come to 
" The Falls," so called, because of the water-power that occurs 
there. It was a place of no little importance to the early 
mhabitants, both because it offered a good site for the erec- 
tion of mills, and also for its excellent shad and alewive 
fisheries at the proper season of the year. 

As an object of special interest to the antiquarian, we find 
here the remains of an ancient canal or water-course, which 
begins near the present road on the east side of the stream, 
and extends down some twenty rods, curving considerably at 
places so as to follow along the bank at about the same level. 
It was, probably, about ten feet wide and six or eight feet 
deep ; and evidently was constructed for the purpose of carry- 
ing water to mills that were situated below. On the side next 
to the stream, were several side-cuts to draw off the water for 
the use of the mills. Only a short and low dam was required 
exactly where the bridge now stands, for the purpose of turn- 
ing the water into the canal, or, in time of freshets, as much 
of it as was needed for the mills. 

Tradition informs us, that when the ancestors of the present 
inhabitants came here, nearly a century and a half ago, forest 
trees a foot in diameter were found growing in the bed of the 
canal and on its banks ; but no information concerning its 
origin or use, from any source whatever, has come down to us, 
except what we may derive from the appearance of the thing 
itself. 

' Were these ruins, which we have now briefly described, the 

VJ 



274 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

work of the early English settlers ; or are we to attribute 
them to a period still more distant in the past, and to a people 
of whom no other information has come down to us ? This 
question was discussed by the ancestors of the present inhabi- 
tants of the place ; and some of them who saw these ruins in 
a better condition than they now present, it is certain, enter- 
tained the opinion that they could not have been constructed 
by the English. The very ju.dicious writer in the Eastern 
Times, beforfe referred to, also adopts the same view ; and 
inclines to attribute them to the famous Northmen, who are 
supposed to have visited the shores of New England at a very 
early period. It has also been conjectured, that a Dutch col- 
ony was established here, before the earliest English settlement 
was begun, but was destroyed by the Indians ; and certain 
very indefinite traditions to this effect were said to have been 
derived from the natives. 

But while the writer supposes these circumstances, trifling 
as they may seem, of sufficient importance to be noticed here, 
it is not with the view of giving them any special prominence. 
They are mentioned rather by way of suggestion to future in- 
quirers, than as indicating an opinion in regard to them. 

As it regards the canal or water-course at " The Falls," 
may we not consider it as affording good evidence that mills, 
or at least a grist-mill, was erected here by the very first Eng- 
lish settlers, being perhaps the first erected in New England? 

How did the early colonists in different places supply them- 
selves with bread ? At the very first, much meal and bread 
were brought from the mother country ; but as soon as the soil 
began to be cultivated, mills for grinding were indispensable. 
When and where was the first grist-mill erected in the Plym- 
outh Colony ? A pounding-mill, for preparing samp, Qnaiv- 
saump, Indian,^ was erected near Billington Sea in 1633, from 
which fact it may be inferred that there was then no mill for 
grinding. Probably it was sev,eral years after this that their 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 275 

first grinding-mill was built. It is certain they had a grist- 
mill in 1G38, as John Jenney was that year prosecuted " for 
not grinding well and seasonably." ^ 

The first grist-mill in the Massachusetts Colony, was erected 
at Cambridge in 1632, nearly two years after the founding of 
the colony ; but in a few months it was taken down and re- 
moved to Copp's Hill, in Boston, for the reason, that, in the 
former place, " it would not grind but with a westerly wind." 
Of course it was a wind-mill. 

Mason's colony at Piscataqua was begim in 1623, but for 
nine years, at least, they had no mill for grinding. This appears 
from the fact, that they brought their corn to the wind-mill in 
Boston to be ground at a period as late as October, 1632. 

At the Casco settlement, according to Mr. Willis, there was 
a mill on the Presumpscot in 1646 ; but we have no informa- 
tion as to the time when it was erected. ^ 

Mr. Thornton suggests that the early settlers at Pemaquid 
probably sent their corn to Boston to be ground ; ^ but is it 
not more probable that they early erected mills of their own 
at the place before described ? Considering that the settlement 
here had become of sufficient importance, as early as 1630, to 
justify the building of a fort, and that it was the chief place of 
resort for the multitude of fishing vessels annually visiting the 
coast, giving rise necessarily to considerable business, — that 
of agriculture we know liot being neglected, — the absolute 
necessity for the early erection of a grist-mill is apparent. 
And as we know there was none nearer than Boston for some 
time after 1632, when the first one was erected there, is there 
not good reason for concluding that these remains which have 
come down to us, are the silent mementos of the mdustry and 

1 Thacher's History, p. 74. 

2 History of Portland, vol. 1, p. 47. 

3 Maine Hist. Col., vol. 5, p. 204. 



276 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

enterprise of the people of that day, employed in this manner 
in order to provide a great public benefit ? 

The water-power here is not veiy considerable, but for a 
large part of the year, was probably sufficient, at this period, 
for all purposes. The site was an excellent one for this pur- 
pose, only about two miles distant from the fort, which was 
the center of operations, and accessible by water. The method 
adopted for constructing the works was probably the least ex- 
pensive that could be devised ; only a short, and comparatively 
low dam being required, little liable to be carried away, or to 
suffer serious damage by freshets. 

IMPOETANT EVENTS AS AFFECTING LAND TITLES. 

At the very beginning of the settlement here, we notice two 
important events, which, as they laid the foundation for two 
sets of -claims to the soil, could not be without important 
results in the subsequent history of the place. The first of 
these, in the order of time, was the purchase from two Indian 
Sagamores of a ' large tract of land here by John Brown, a 
gentleman of Bristol, England ; and the second was the issu- 
ing of the " Pemaquid Patent " by the " Council of Plymouth," 
to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, also of Bristol. 

Brown's deed, which was dated July 25th, 1625, is to be 
found in that most important, but now very rare document, 
entitled an " Order of both Branches of the Legislature of 
Massachusetts, to appoint Commissioners to investigate the 
Causes of the Difficulties in the County of Lincoln, and the 
Report of the Commisioners thereoiu with the documents 
in support thereof, Boston, 1811," and in Mr. Thornton's 
" Ancient Pemaquid." 

The tract of land conveyed by this deed, as was claimed 
by those who held it, included the whole peninsula between 
Muscongus Sound on the east, and Damariscotta River on the 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 277 

west, extending north several miles beyond the head of the 
tide which flows on botli sides ; and the consideration men- 
tioned in it is " fifty skins." The deed is a curiosity of its 
kind, and, at the present day, would not probably be considered 
by the courts as of any worth. 

Brown subsequently conveyed to otliers a part of this tract ; 
and his heirs, many years later gave deeds of undivided parts, 
which they supposed of right belonged to them, until near the 
close of the last century, when it became necessary to take 
legal measures to confirm the title. At that time, the " pro- 
prietors " under this claim formed a numerous body and were 
living in nearly all the New England States. 

For many years, and until driven off by the Indians, Brown 
himself and many of his descendants lived within the limits of 
the claim ; and after this time occasional acts of ownership, as 
the making of surveys of some part of the tract, were per- 
formed by one or more of the claimants ; but the whole claim 
was ultimately set aside as worthless, as will be more fully 
described further on. 

The other important event, alluded to above, was the issuing 
of the " Pemaquid Patent," February 29th, 1631, as already 
stated. This patent, which, in its terms, was in part conditional, 
conveyed twelve thousand acres of land ; and when possession 
was given. May 27th, 1633, according to the legal forms then 
practiced, it was agreed to bound it " from the head of the 
river of Damariscotta to the head of the river of Muscongus, 
and between it to the sea." Of course the claim covered very 
nearly the same land as the Indian deed to Brown, but did 
not extend quite as far to the north. 

Aldsworth died not long after the date of the patent, leaving 
Elbridge, as was claimed, sole owner of the patent ; and on 
the death of Elbridge, his oldest son, Thomas, came over and 
took possession of the patent as sole heir to his father. He re- 
sided many years at Pemaquid ; and, in accordance with the 



278 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

usage of the time, it is said he " hekl a court " here, and per- 
■ formed many acts of ownership. In 1651, he, by deed, conveyed 
one-half of the patent to Paul White, a gentleman of Charles- 
town, Massachusetts ; and subsequently other deeds were given 
until 1657, when Nicholas Davison, also of Charlestown, 
became sole owner. 

From Davison, the claim passed by will to several relatives 
of his ; and their heirs, by the names of Savage, Alford, 
Clarke, Winslow, Ruck, Parrott, Sweetser, Phillips, Mousell, 
Paine, Fitch, Kneeland, and others, who lived mostly in Boston 
and the immediate vicinity, became the hated " proprietors " 
under the " Drowne claim " so much dreaded by the inhabitants 
three-quarters of a century ago. 

Among the heirs of Davison was\i Miss Russell, who mar- 
ried a man by the name of Shem Drowne, a citizen of Boston 
of some distinction, by reason of his being often engaged in 
the public affairs of the town. He was a man of great energy 
and enterprise, and an enthusiast in the matter of this eastern 
property belonging to the family and supposed to be very 
valuable ; and it was because of his being long identified as 
the leader in prosecuting the claim, that it became known as 
the " Drowne claim." 

Drowne began his labors in 1743, by procuring a call for a 
legal meeting of the claimants under the patent, which was 
held at the " Orange Tree" Tavern in Boston, August olst, of 
the year just mentioned. Here measures were taken to have 
a survey of the lands made, and a division into lots of about 
a hundred acres each' and plans laid for the recovery and 
appropriation of the property. 

This survey and division was in due time made, and the 
land distributed by lot among the claimants at several different 
meetings. Every thing was done according to legal form, and 
all the necessary signatures obtained, which, as the parties 
were somewhat scattered, required considerable time and 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 279 

expense. It was not until 1763, more than twenty years after 
the first meeting was hekl, that the last required signature was 
obtained. The documents were put on record in 1768, and in 
1774 Drowne died. 

He was by trade a " tin plate worker," and had his place of 
business in Boston. A few years ago, the grasshopper vane, 
which had long faithfully indicated the direction of the wind 
over Faneuil Hall, was blown down, and in it was found con- 
cealed a fragment of a paper much weather worn and diffi- 
cult to read ; but enough was made out to determine that 
Shem Drowne was the maker of the vane. Thomas Drowne, 
a brother of Shem, lived many years at New Harbor, and 
married his wife there. Her maiden name was McFarland. 

Besides these two claims to the soil at Pemaquid, there were 
other claims to some parts of it, but they were of secondary 
importance and will not be further noticed. 

These claims, after producing no little trouble, and much 
bitterness among the inhabitants of the place, who regarded 
the " proprietors " as much their enemies as they did the 
native savages, were at length put to rest by the interference 
of the Legislature of Massachusetts, early in the present cen- 
tury. 

About the beginning of the century, in consequence of the 
law limiting the time in which actions in certain cases could 
be brought for the recovery of real estate, it became necessary 
for these non-resident claimants to bring actions to establish 
their supposed titles. Several actions against citizens of the 
place were begun in the Supreme Judicial Court ; and in the 
prosecution of them it became necessary that surveys should be 
made, and certain lines indicated by ancient deeds re-determined. 
This was ordered to be done by the court, and a surveyor 
appointed for the purpose, who, however, met with so much 
opposition from the people, that he retired from the contest 
and reported the facts to the court. Subsequently, in the 



280 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

autumn of the year 1810, a part of the militia from a neigh- 
boring town was ordered out by the court to support the 
surveyor ; but as many of the men who were drafted were 
known to sympathize strongly with the settlers, the difficulty 
and danger of such a movement became apparent. Wiser 
counsels now began to prevail ; immediate action was post- 
poned, and the whole matter was again brought by petition 
before the Legislature of the State. 

It is not proposed to enter further into the details of this 
subject here ; and it will be sufficient to say that the decision 
finally arrived at, seemed to establish the principle that grants 
of land on this continent made by a sovereign of Europe 
were good and valid, while grants made by the natives of the 
country were void and of no effiict ! 

The commissioners to whom the subject was referred, 
awarded to the Drowne claimants eleven thausand five hun- 
dred and twenty acres of wild land, to be selected from the 
public lands of Maine, as a proper compensation for their 
claim at Pemaquid ; but rejected the Brown claim as worth- 
less. The Kennebec Company at the same time received a 
township of wild land as a compensation for their claim to 
lands in Boothbay and Edgecomb, which were in dispute at 
the same time as those at Pemaquid. 

THE FORTS AT PEMAQUID. 

The exact site of the last fort erected at Pemaquid Harbor 
is well known, as the foundations can still be traced very satis- 
factorily ; and a small part of the wall in one place yet re- 
mains ; and it is very certain that all the others of more 
ancient date, of which there were three, occupied very nearly 
the same spot. As before stated, the place is a little south of 
the narrowest part of the entrance to the harbor, some fifteen 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 281 

or twenty rods from the water. The sliore is rocky and very 
bold, so that ships of considerable size may approach very 
near. Just at this place is the highest point of the peninsula ; 
but the surface, probably, is not elevated more than thirty or 
forty feet above the water of the bay and harbor. 

The first fort at Pemaqnid, which was erected in 1630, it is 
believed, occupied this spot, but no positive evidence of the 
fact has come down to us ; nor is there any description of it 
known to be in existence. Very probably it was merely an 
earthwork, surmounted with a stockade. Only two years after 
it was built, it was taken and sacked by some pirates, led by a 
daring desperado by the name of Dixy Bull, As the object of 
these freebooters was only to obtain all the plunder they could, 
it is believed that the fort itself was not destroyed. After this, 
for thirty years or more, the place enjoyed almost uninter- 
rupted peace, and no mention is made of the fort. We may, 
therefore, conclude that it had been allowed to fall into decay ; 
and when the troubles connected with King Philip's War 
began, we do not learn that the inhabitants had any place of 
protection to which they could fly. 

As the difificulties with the natives, which preceded this war, 
were gradually increasing in Massachusetts, Ehode Island, and 
Connecticut, the changing conduct and temper of the Indians 
in the east plainly showed, that, though destitute of telegraph 
or post, the people of the two sections were not without means 
of communication with each other. Matters proceeded less 
rapidly in Maine than in the region of Mount Hope, but there 
was the most perfect sympathy between the people of the two 
sections. 

For some time after the war actually broke out in Massachu- 
setts, the natives about Pemaquid, though very uneasy, and 
much disposed to complain of the encroachments of the Eng- 
lish, were kept comparatively quiet, chiefly by the exertions of 



282 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Mr. Abraham Shiirte, a leading citizen of the place, who had 
ever maintained towards them a kind and conciliatory course, 
and thereby secured their confidence. But for the injudicious 
and altogether unjustifiable conduct of othens, it is quite pos- 
sible that the settlement might have passed uninjured through 
that perilous period of its history. But this was not to be ; 
and if the savages, stung with a sense of their wrongs, burned 
for revenge upon those whom they considered their enemies ; 
there were among the English those, who, judged by their con- 
duct, were actuated by a spirit no more justifiable. 

King Philip himself was slain August 12th, 1676 ; but the 
war in the east was then only just begun, and a few days later 
all the settlements in Maine, east of Casco, — Pemaquid includ- 
ed, — were utterly destroyed. Fortunately, the inhabitants of 
Pemaquid received timely warning, and made their escape, — 
first to Damariscove Island, and then to Monhegan ; but before 
winter all removed to the west. 

The second fort at Pemaquid was, like the first, only an 
earthwork, surmounted with heavy timber. The territory of 
Sagadahock, including 'substantially all that part of Maine 
east of the Kennebec, had been granted, a few years before, to 
the Duke of York ; and it was for the protection of this inter- 
est, that the expense was incurred. June 9th, 1677, Sir Ed- 
mund Andros being then Ducal Governor of New York and 
Sagadahock, it was determined in Council, " to send and take 
Possession and assert the Duke's Interest at Pemaquid, and 
parts adjacent Eastward ; " and immediately a force was dis- 
patched from New York for this purpose, under the direction 
of Captain Caesar Knapton. It was also magnanimously 
decided if they " made Peace with the Indyans there, the 
Massachusetts to bee comprised if they Pleased." 

The thing having been determined on, no time was lost; 
and in the archives at the State House in Albany, are still pre- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 283 

served original letters from Capt. Brocklioles, who had sailed 
there on this business, dated Pemaquid, July 12th and loth of 
the same year. The fort which was erected in a little time, 
was named Fort Charles, and received a " considerable num- 
ber of soldiers," as a proper garrison for the place. A cus- 
tom-house was also established in connection with the fort ; 
and a stringent system of rules laid down for the regulation 
of trade with the natives and others, and for the government 
of the place. This garrison was ever afterwards maintained 
there at the expense of the Duke's government, until the sur- 
render of the place to Massachusetts by a royal order, dated 
September 19th, 1686. The heavy guns were removed, first 
to Boston, but afterwards to New York. 

It would seem that the order for its surrender was not very 
promptly obeyed, for a year and a half afterwards, (March 28, 
1688,) at a Council held at Fort James in New York, it was 
agreed to send a remonstrance to His Majesty against the 
measure. • The language of the document, however, implies 
that the thing had been done ; and the remonstrance, or ad- 
dress, if actually sent, amounted to nothing more than an 
exhibition of the signers' personal feelings and mortification. 

After the surrender of the place to Massachusetts, only a 
small garrison was kept at Fort^ Charles, although it was 
known to be a special .object of vengeance on the part of the 
Indians. Even the destruction of Cocheco, (Dover, N. H.,) 
in June, 1689, was not taken as a sufficient warning to induce 
them to increase their means of defense. The consequence 
was, that, being attacked furiously by a body of Indians under 
" old Moxus," August 2d, of this year, the fort was obliged to 
surrender, and, with all the houses in the vicinity, was given 
to the flames. 

This attack upon the place appears to have been devised and 
carried into effect entirely by the Penobscot Indians, who, 



284 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

about one hundred in number, came in canoes, and landed at 
New Harbor. They had sent before them several of their i 
number as spies, to learn all they could of the condition of the ; 
garrison. How successful these were, we are not informed ; 
but it is certain that the English people saw nothing of them ; 
or, at least, had not had their suspicions excited by anything 
that occurred. When the savages landed, they were so for- 
tunate as to make a prisoner of an Englishman, by the name 
of Starkey, whom they met entirely alone, and compelled him 
to give them information in regard to the condition of affairs 
in the place. Learning that Mr. Gyles, one of the chief men 
of the place, had gone with his men to make hay at " The 
Falls," and that there were only a few able men at the fort, 
they separated in two parties, one going directly to the fort, 
and the other turning to the right so as to intercept Mr. Gyles 
and his party. Both parties succeeded only too well ; Gyles 
and several of his men were killed, and nearly all the others, 
with two of his sons, were taken captives ; all the houses in the 
place were burned, and the fort taken and destroyed, after a 
contest that lasted until sometime the next day. 

The " weak old fort," as Gyles calls it, was commanded by 
Capt. Weems, who made a resolute defense ; but being himself 
wounded, and several of his ablest men killed, he at length 
capitulated, on condition that all in the fort, with three of the 
captives whom the Indians had taken, should be allowed to 
depart unmolested from the place in a sloop, which they had 
also seized, and that they should be allowed to take from the 
fort whatever they could carry in their hands. ^ 

Dr. Mather says that the Indians afterwards violated the 
agreement by " butchering and captivating many " of the 

1 This last condition was, a few years ago, made the basis of a pleasant 
story, by Mr. Thomas McClure, which attracted some attention at the time. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 285 

prisoners ; but as Gyles, who was one of the prisoners, does 
not mention the fact, it must be considered doubtful. 
r Charlevoix says, that after the capitulation, Capt. Weems 
" came out at the head of fourteen men, who alone remained 
of the garrison, with some women, all of them with packs 
upon their backs. The Indians allowed them to pass unmo- 
lested, only saying to them, if they were wise they would 
never return ; for the Abenaki nation had learned so much 
of their perfidy, that they would never again allow them to 
live there in peace ; that they were masters of the country, 
and would not endure the presence of a people so officious and 
disposed to trouble them in the exercise of their religion." 
The same writer affirms further, that the savages committed 
no disorder, either in the fort or in the houses, — even destroy- 
ing, without tasting, some barrels of spirituous liquors (1' eau 
de vie) which they found. According to Charlevoix, Capt, 
Weems, after his surrender, affirmed that seven men of the 
garrison were killed during the fight ; but he intimates that 
in his own opinion, the number was much greater. Only one 
of the attacking party was badly wounded. 

A point of some importance in connection with this fight is 
to be noted. A large rock which lay between the fort and the 
shore, aided the Indians very considerably in their attacks, — 
affording them gi^eat protection from the guns of the fort, and 
enabling them, by climbing its sides at fit opportunities, to an- 
noy those within the walls more effectually. This same rock 
still remains in its place, but is now found within the 
walls of the fort. We are informed by Cadillac, that, in 
building the next fort, in 1692, this rock was inclosed 
because of the advantage it afforded the enemy at this time. ^ 
This circumstance enables us. to fix very satisfactorily the 
exact site of Fort Charles, which we thus find stood a little to 

1 Maine His. Col., vol. G, p. 283. 



286 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

the east of the one that succeeded it, called Fort William 
Henry. 

The feelings of the savages, on their return, are well indi- 
cated by their assurances to the- Catholic priest, M. Thury, 
that " with two hundred Frenchmen, acquainted with the 
places and earnest to follow, they could lead them even to 
Boston." The whole country east of Casco was now made 
desolate, and the Indians roved everywhere undisputed ; and 
the next spring, Casco also suffered the same fate. 

The next and third fort at Pemaquid, was consfa-ucted under 
the direction of Governor Phips, in 1692. Sir William Pliips, 
whose romantic history is familiar with most persons, was 
appointed Governor of Massachusetts early in this year ; and 
being well acquainted with the eastern country, he very soon, 
in accordance with instructions from the English Government, 
determined upon building here a strong fort for the protection 
of the country from the further incursions of the Indians, and 
also to serve as a check against the increasing influence of the 
French in this region. Repairing here with four hundred and 
fifty men, a substantial stone fort was soon erected, and called 
Fort William Henry. According to Mather, it was of a " quad- 
rangular figure, being about 737 feet in compass, without the 
outer walls, and 108 feet square, within the inner ones." 
" The wall on the south line, fronting to the sea, was 22 feet 
high, and more than 6 feet thick at the ports, which were 8 
feet from the ground. The greater flanker, or round tower, 
at the western end of this line, was 29 feet high. The wall 
on the east line was 12 feet high ; on the north it was 10 ; on 
the west it was 18. It was compTited that in the whole there 
were laid above 2000 cart-loads of stone." ^ A force of sixty 

1 This description is very obscure. The language would seem to imply that 
the walls were double ; but this we know could not be the case. And if the 
fort was only one hundred and eight feet square inside the walls, — supposing 
this to be the meaning, — how could it be seven hundred and thirly-seven feet 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 287 

men "was left to garrison the place, commanded at first by 
Capt. March, and afterwards by Capt. Chubb. 

This fort, in elegance and strength, far surpassed anything 
that had been erected in that region ; and a decidedly favora- 
ble impression was produced upon the minds of the natives, 
who were soon disposed to enter upon negotiations of peace. 
Accordingly, the next summer, many chiefs of different tribes 
assembled at Fort William Henry, and agreed with Gov. Phips 
upon terms of peace and submission to the English authority, 
delivering up three of their number as hostages, and promising 
at once to forsake their former allies, the French. 

But the peace was of short continuance : the natives had 
become so deeply exasperated with the English, that they could 
not be controlled by the promises of their leaders ; and, as a 
consequence, the robbery and murder of the English contin- 
ued whenever a favorable opportunity occurred. So the Eng- 
lish, on the other hand, finding that no faith could be put in 
the promises of the savages, often committed acts of revenge 
upon the Indians altogether unjustifiable. 

The result of this was, that, early in the season of 1696, 
preparations began to be made by the French and Indians, for 
an attack upon the fort at Pemaquid, which actually took place 
in the month of July following. For this purpose, Iberville 
started from Quebec with two companies of soldiers in two 
war vessels ; and at St. Johns he was joined by Villebon 
with a company of Indians, all of them eager for the destruc- 
tion of the hated strong-hold. Fort William Henry, at Pema- 
quid. From the mouth of the Penobscot, Castine, with two 

"in compass." The " greater flanker," or round tower, of the next and last 
fort built there, — the foundations of which still remain, was one hundred and 
thirty feet " in compass ; " but, including this, we cannot make the distance 
around the walls so much as is given. May there not have been at the eastern 
angle, diagonally opposite to tha " greater flanker," a large bastion, or lesser 
" flanker," which increased the distance around so as to make it as stated. 



288 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

hundred Indians, in canoes, proceeded to join the expedition, 
which now became of a formidable character. 

On their way to Pemaquid, the Frencli ships were so fortu- 
nate as to capture the English ship Newport, which, with some 
others, was bound for the Penobscot ; and, with their prize, 
made their appearance before the fort on the 14th of July, 
After a summons from the French commander, Iberville, to 
surrender, which was refused by Capt. Chubb, the attack com- 
menced late in the afternoon. During the night, the French 
were very active, and so prepared their means of assaulting 
the place, that Chubb was induced to surrender. He was 
much alarmed by a threat of Castine, which by some mode 
was sent into the fort, that if they continued the defense, when 
the fort should be taken, they would have to deal with the 
savages who would show no quarter. 

The surrender was made on the conditions, that all persons 
in the fort should be sent to Boston, and exchanged for an 
equal number of French and Indians. ^On entering the fort, 
the French found there an Indian in irons, which greatly exas- 
perated the savages ; and the English account of the transac- 
tion says, that several of the soldiers were murdered on the 
spot. The rest were taken to an island in the vicinity, to pro- 
tect them from the savages. The loss of this fort put an end, 
for the time, to the English influence in these parts ; and for 
more than thirty years this whole region, between the rivers 
Kennebec and .Penobscot, was utterly desolate. 

The fourth, and last fort at Pemaquid, was erected by Col. 
Dunbar, in 1729 ; and it is the remains of this which we now 
find there. The settlements west of the Kennebec were re- 
vived in a few years ; but east of this river little progress was 
made ; and at Pemaquid nothing was done until the rebuild- 
ing of the fort, at the date above given. And the cause of the 
delay is easily understood : Gov. Phips being well acquainted 
with the eastern country, was prepared to appreciate the im- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 289 

portancc of holding Pemaquid ; not to Massachusetts only, but 
to tho whole English people, as being the extreme eastern out- 
post which they could then expect to hold. But it was not so 
with the British Government, by whom the governors of Mas- 
sachusetts were now appointed. Gov. Phips died in 1695, 
nearly a year before the destruction of the fort he had built at 
Pemaquid ; and his successors being in the interest of the 
home government, claimed that the expense of protecting this 
eastern territory, including the rebuilding of the fort, was 
properly chargeable to the people of Massachusetts, and not to 
the royal treasury. Peremptory orders were sent from the 
government to the legislature, to make provision for the re- 
building of the fort ; but they were disobeyed. From year 
to year, the contest was kept up, and the place remained 
desolate. 

Considering the persevering audacity of Massachusetts, for 
some time before this, in extending her jurisdiction over the 
soil of Maine, in spite of all opposition, and almost in open 
defiance of the British Government, it cannot be thought 
strange that the latter should hesitate to build and support a 
fort in those parts. In fact, the conduct of Massachusetts in 
this matter was most extraordinary. By a new interpretation 
of her charter, she had extended her borders so far north as 
to include the southern part of both New Hampshire and 
Maine, including most of the Pemaquid settlement ; and, 
almost by force of arms, actually extended her jurisdiction 
over the territory ; but, at the same time, refused to rebuild 
the fort which was absolutely necessary for the protection of 
this same territory. But Massachusetts had been made to feel 
her dependence upon the mother country in a way she dis- 
liked ; and in this particular contest, she had the advantage to 
understand, in all its relations, the question at issue. She 
knew well, that, sooner or later, the power of England must be 
used for the protection of tliis part of the empire from the 

20 



200 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

French, whatever other collateral issues might arise. And so 
it proved, after a contest between the royal governors and the 
legislature of the colony for nearly a quarter of a century. 
The ministry at length determined to rebuild the fort, and 
sent their agent, Col. David Dunbar, a reduced colonel of the 
army, to the place for the purpose. 

As the shrewd men of Massachusetts had foreseen, they 
were obliged to this course, to prevent the country from falling 
under the dominion of France ; but, as Massachusetts had not 
foreseen, a claim was now put forth in regard both to right of 
jurisdiction and the ownership of the soil, which was a little 
extraordinary. 

The territory of Acadia, without any definition of bounda- 
ries, was ceded to France by England by the treaty of Breda, 
in 1668 ; but was again restored to England " with all its an- 
cient boundaries " by the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713. Whether 
Pemaquid was within this territory, was a question that had 
not been decided. But the French, while in possession, 
claimed the country as far west as the Kennebec. What an 
excellent foundation there was then for the claim now brought 
forward ; that, whatever rights Massachusetts, or other parties, 
may have had to the soil here, were lost by the treaty first 
mentioned ; that the country being now recovered by conquest, 
not only the civil jurisdiction, but also the right to the soil, 
was vested in the crown. 

When, therefore, it was resolved by the British Government 
to rebuild the fort, it was also determined to claim the owner- 
ship of the soil, and to assume the civil jurisdiction. Dunbar, 
therefore, only acted in accordance with the design with Avhich 
he was sent to the country, when he proceeded to introduce 
settlers and to make grants of the land. 

It is a question, whether Dunbar erected a new fort alto- 
gether, or whether he only repaired the old one built by Gov. 
Phips. But there are some reasons for believing that the old 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 291 

foundations at least were preserved. Probably little more 
than the mere foundations, which would in a great measure 
be protected from the weather, after the lapse of a third of a 
century, would be worth preserving. 

The foundations of the last fort, whether they be the same 
as laid by Phips or not, can still be easily traced. By this, 
we learn that the fort was quadrangular in form, but not per- 
fectly square. The four sides faced towards the southeast, 
southwest, northwest, and northeast ; the four corners or angles 
being of course towards the four cardinal points. At the west 
angle was the round tower, or " greater flanker," which inclosed 
the large rock before mentioned, and w^as in form perfectly cir- 
cular, the distance around being one hundred and thirty feet. 
The southeast and northeast sides were one hundred and forty- 
eight feet, and the southwest and northwest sides, each one 
hundred and thirty feet in length. The entrance was in the 
northeast side ; and at the eastern angle, diagonally opposite 
the " greater flanker," was a proper bastion, and probably the 
magazine. 

The walls were built of small stones, which were evidently 
collected from the shores in the immediate vicinity. These 
stones, though small, were well laid in mortar ; and the walls, 
several feet above the foundations, were probably two feet 
thick. 1 But, however formidable they may have appeared to 
the Indians in those days, they would afford little protection 
against the ponderous missiles now used, hurled from ships 
that could approach within a few hundred yards. It was evi- 
dently designed rather as a means of defense against the na- 
tive savages than against ships of war, which could easily 

1 The writer's personal recollections of the place go Lack to the year 1816, 
at which time the remains of the walls, at the lowest places, were two or three 
feet high, and not less than ten or fifteen feet in some places, and especially 
around the " greater flanker" next the bay. 



292 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

batter down walls thus made. Dunbar called his new fortifi- 
cation " Fort Frederic." 

Dunbar was dismissed in 1732 ; but during the three years 
of his administration, he conducted affairs with the greatest 
energy. As a matter of course, a violent opposition was 
waked up against him, not only from Massachusetts, which 
still claimed jurisdiction by right of her charter, but also from 
all persons claiming to be proprietors of the soil, including 
both sets of claimants to the soil at Pemaquid. This opposi- 
tion soon became too strong for him, and effected his removal 
as just stated. 

The fort was afterwards kept in tolerable repair, and a small -; 
garrison maintained there most of tlie time, until a few years ! 
after the taking of Quebec, in 1759. Persons now living in \ 
the place, have heard the old people describe the scene at the sj 
time it was dismantled, and the " big guns " removed by ' 
passing them through the gate in the northeast side. 

The wood-work about it, of course soon decayed, but the 
stone walls remained in good condition until the beginning of 
the war of the Revolution. At a " regular town meeting," 
May 2d, 1774, a vote was passed to " pull down Pemaquid 
Fort ; and that Tuesday next be appointed for the purpose." 

Tradition says, that, at the time appointed, many of the citi- 
zens assembled, and actually "pulled down" the walls in 
accordance with this vote ; and it also adds, that the reason 
for the proceeding was a fe^-r that it might be seized by the 
British and used to the disadvantage of the cause of liberty. 

TWO SACxAMORES OF PEMAQUID, 

It is scarcely possible to hear the name of an American In- 
dian without associating with it thoughts of treachery, cruelty, 
and bloodshed. But, whatever occasion there has been for 
this, it is pleasing to know, that, among those whose names 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 293 

have come down to us, there have been some whose fair fame 

is entirely unsullied by any such aspersions. Such were 

Nahanada and Samoset, two sagamores of Pemaquid, of whose 

history, so far as known to us, it is proposed to give a brief 

sketch. 

I 

SKETCH OF NAHANADA. 

Nahanada. This man, whose name we find occasionally 
written Tahaneda and Dehamida^ was sagamore of one of the 
tribes at or near Pemaquid, probably the Wawenocks, at the 
time of Weymouth's famous voyage to the coast of Maine, in 
the summer of 1605. When he was at anchor in Pentecost 
(George's Island) Harbor, his ship was visited freely by the 
natives, who manifested the most friendly disposition ; and a 
considerable intercourse took place, although they could con- 
verse only by signs. Mutual confidence seemed to be estab- 
lished between them ; until at length Weymouth and his 
company began to inquire among themselves, how they could 
best secure a numbei" of their confiding friends, to be taken 
with them to England. Few natives of America had then 
been seen in Europe, and they attracted much attention. 

Having decided that they could best accomplish their object, 
not by the manly way of a mutual agreement, but by strata- 
gem and violence, it was natural that they should very soon 
begin to see indications of treachery and lack of good faith on 
the part of the Indians. They, therefore, justified themselves, 
as soon as a favorable opportunity occurred, in seizing upon 
five of the natives, and securing them on board, with their 

1 The different modes of writing this name appear to have proceeded from 
the way in which tlic native word, " N'tahfinada," was canght by tlie Englisli 
car, by losing the first consonant and taking tlie second ; or, vice vcrsA. The 
name is written in otlier forms besides those given in the text, which are easily 
resolvable into the original name. 



294 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

canoes and whatever else they had. Their names, as given by- 
Rosier, the apparently faithful chronicler of the voyage, were 
Tahanedo, a sagamore, or commander, Amoret, Skicowaros, 
and Maneddo, gentlemen ; and Saffacamoit,' a servant. 

When, a few weeks afterwards, the ship arrived in Ports- 
month, where Sir Ferdinando Gorges then had command, 
three of them were given to him, (probably considered as 
slaves,) and the other two, it is believed, were sent to Sir John 
Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, who was deeply inter- 
ested in the projects then nnder discussion for the colonizing 
of North America. One of these last mentioned was undoubt- 
edly Nahanada, the subject of our notice ; who was thus 
favored with an opportunity to become acquainted with the 
English and English society. After about a year's residence 
with the Lord Chief Justice, he was restored to his native 
country, by Capt. Hanam, according to Strachey ; but by Capt. 
Prin or Pring, according to Gorges. ^ This was in 1606. 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges, writing many years afterwards, gives 
the names of the three " whom he seized upon," as Manida, 
Skettwarroes, and Tasquantum ; but it is plain there is some 
mistake as to the last name. ^ Two of the five, — names not 
given, — were, in 1606, put on board of a ship commanded by 
Capt. Henry Challong, to be restored to their homes ; but ho 
was captured by a Spanish ship and taken to Spain, and it is 
not known whether the Indians ever again reached their native 
land. SkidAvares"* returned to America with the Popham expe- 
dition in 1607, and one of the five is unaccounted for. 

1 This is a inispriut in Rosier for Sassecomoit. The Abnaki Indians never 
use tlie letter /. 

2 It is probable tliat these two men were oflicers of the same ship, but of 
different grades. See ante, p. 8", note, where Hine or Haines was "master 
under Challous," the "commandor." 

3 Tasquantum is tlie name of an Indian taken by Hunt. Perhaps he Iiad 
come into the hands of Corjies. 

'^ Tlie same as Skettwarroes. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 295 

Gorges says that Skidwares accompanied Nahanada with 
Pring in his voyage to this coast in 1606, but if he did (which 
is doiil)tfiil) , he certainly returned again to England before the 
sailing of the Popham expedition in the spring of 1607 ; as ho 
was with them when they arrived, and made one of the first 
company that landed at Pemaquid. When the boat landed, 
" he brought them to the salvadges' homes, where they found 
a hundred men, women, and childrene, and their commander 
or Sagamo amongst them, named Nahanada." ***** 
" At their first comyng the Indians betook them to their armes, 
their bowes, and arrowes ; but after Nahanada had talked with 
Skidwares, and perceaved that they were Englishmen, they 
caused them to lay aside their bowes and arrowes, and he him- 
self come unto them and ymbraced, and made them much 
welcome, and cntertayned them, and did they likewise him ; 
and after two howers thus entcrchangeably spent, they returned 
abourd againe." ^ 

Another excursion to Pemaquid, by a larger company, was 
made a few days afterwards, who were kindly received by Na- 
hanada at the head of a large body of Indians, all armed with 
bows and arrows. In their intercourse both parties manifested 
a little shyness, but no act indicated any unfriendliness. 

The country between the St. George's and Kennebec Rivers 
was inhabited by the Wawenocks ; and it is probable that 
Nahanada was sagamore of this tribe. Little is known of him 
during his residence in England, but it is believed that his 
character as a cliicf was recognized from the first. Though 
made an unwilling exile from his native country, we do not 
learn that he yielded to unmanly regrets on the one hand, or 
indulged in vain vituperations against his captors, on the other. 
And when the next year the English made their appearance in 
bis country, though a little cautious, he received them with a 

1 Strachey. 



296 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

degree of respect and confidence which tliey themselves felt 
they did not deserve. 

After Popham's company had located themselves at Sahino, 
near the mouth of the Kennebec, Nahanada with Skidwares 
and numerous other attendants soon made them a friendly 
visit, as if to cultivate feelings of mutual friendship and con- 
fidence. Before leaving, it was agreed that Captain Gill^ert, 
as representative of the colony, should make a visit to the great 
Bashaba at Penobscot, and that they should be accompanied 
from Pemaquid by Nahanada and a suitable number of attend- 
ants. Unfortunate circumstances prevented the full accom- 
plishment of the plan, which is greatly to be regretted, as we 
should then have learned something worthy of our confidence 
of this now quite mysterious personage, " the grand Bashaba." 

In the course of the autumn, Nahanada and his wife, at- 
tended by a brother of the Bashaba, and others, came again 
in two canoes to visit the new colony at Sabino, where they 
were kindly entertained by the English. As they remained 
there over the Sabbath they were invited to attend the religious 
services, which they did, " both morning and evening," be- 
having in all respects with propriety and reverence. Having 
spent as much time with their English friends as they desired, 
they returned home, having deported themselves in all respects 
in a becoming and friendly manner ; and this although at the 
same time they were having some difficulty with the Indians 
living above them on the river. 

Popham's colony, as is well known, was broken up the next 
spring and returned to England ; and we hear no more of Na- 
hanada until the time of Captain Smith's visit here in the sum- 
mer of 1614. Smith speaks of the visit lie received from him 
in terms that appear almost extravagant. He says that he was 
the main assistance to him, under God, and calls him one of 
the " greatest lords of the country," " who had lived long in 
England." 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 297 

This noble testimony to the character of Nahanada is the 
last we hear of him ; and his name passes from history with- 
out a reproach resting upon it,^ Soon after this, those two worst 
scourges of the human race, pestilence and war, fell upon the 
natives of New England, and it is quite probable that by one 
or the other our Indian friend was swept away. Certain it is, 
that when, eight or nine years after the visit of Smith, we 
again get a glimpse of affairs at Pemaquid, the names of Na- 
hanada and Skidwares are no more heard, — all is changed, 
and their places are filled by others. 

SKETCH OF SAMOSET. 

I 

Samoset. This is the name - of another sagamore of 'Pema- 
quid which has been preserved to us, and the history we have 
of him is every way honorable and interesting. The first we 
hear of him is at Plymouth, March 16th, 1621, where he in- 
troduced himself to the " pilgrim fathers " by that generous 
salutation, " Welcome, Englishmen, Welcome, Engiishmeji," 
Avhicli was so grateful to their ears. 

The passengers from the May Flower, we know, landed Dec. 
21st, but the natives feared and avoided them ; and until this 
time not a word of communication had passed between them. 
Indeed, few Indians had been seen, all of whom manifested 
feelings of hostility. In " Mourt's Relation," the account of 
Samoset's appearing among them is as follows : " And whilest 
we were busied hunting about, we were interrupted again ; for 
there presented himself a savage, which caused alarm. He 
very boldly come all alone, and along the houses, straight ty 

1 There is, liowever, a probability that he was alive in 1G18. A deed was 
then given to William Bradford and others, of land " from Cusenock up to 
Wesserunskick," bj' " Natahanada, son of old Nataworraett, Sagamore of 
Kennebec." Copies of this instrument are preserved in the Pejepscot Papers, 
and in the records of Lincoln Countj'. 

- Written also Suminuset, Somerset, Sameset, and Sommarset. 



298 '. BIEMORIAL VOLUME. 

the rendezvous, where we intercepted him, not suffering him 
to go in, as undoubtedly lie would out of his boldness. He : 
saluted us in English, and bade us ' welcome,' for he had 
learned some broken English among the Englishmen that came ( 
to fish at Monhiggon (Monhegan), and knew by name most of >, 
the captains, commanders, and masters that usually come. He 
was a man of free speech, as far as he could express his mind, 
and of a seemly carriage. We questioned him of many things; 
he was the first savage we could meet "\vithal. He said he was fj 
not of these parts, but of Monattiggon (Monhegan), and one (i 
of the Sagamores, or lords thereof, and had been eight months ' 
in these parts, it lying hence a day's sail with a great wind, 
and five days by land. He discoursed of the whole country, 
and of every province, and of the Sagamores and their num- 
ber and strength. The wind beginning to rise a little, we cast 
a horseman's coat about him, for he was nearly naked. * * : 
He had a bow and two arrows, the one headed, and the other il 
unheaded. He was a tall, straight man, the hair of his head 
black, and long behind, only short before, none on his face at 
all. He asked for some beer, but we gave him strong water, 
and biscuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece 
of mallard ; all of which he liked well, and had been acquainted 
with such amongst the English." * , * * " We would gladly, 
have been rid of him at night, but he was not willing to go 
this night." At length it was arranged that he should sleep 
on board the May Flower, which still lay in the harbor ; but 
the wind and tide being unfavorable for the shallop to go to 
her and return, they finally concluded to lodge him at the 
house of Mr. Stephen Hopkins, of course keeping a watch over 
him. The next morning he left them, promising to return 
again, which he did in a day or two, bringing " five other tall 
and proper men " with him. 

Thus commenced the first acquaintance of the Plymoutli 
colonists with the natives, by the kind services of this native of 



y 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 299 

[ Pemaqiiid, who for some time before returning to his own 
f country, continued to make himself useful to them in giving 
I them important information concerning the feelings of the 
' neighboring Indians, the best places for fishing, the produc- 
tions of the country, &c. 

He introduced to them his friend Squanto, or Tisquantum, 
a native of the place, who could speak English, as he said, 
better than himself. This man was one of the twenty whom 
Hunt seized and undertook to sell into slavery six or seven 
years before this, and had resided some time in England. He 
afterwards proved himself a real friend, and Bradford says of 
him that he " became a spetiall instrument sent of God for 
their good beyond their expectation." 

While Samoset remained in Plymouth both he and Squanto 
manifested a more friendly spirit towards the colonists ; and 
sought always to promote good feeling between them and the 
Indians. Through their instrumentality a treaty of peace and 
friendship was established between them and Massasoit, saga- 
more of a neighboring tribe, which was kept inviolate between 
them for more than fifty years, or until King Philip's war, as it 
has been called, which broke out in 1675. Philip was the 
youngest son of Massasoit, and succeeded an older brother as 
sagamore of the same tribe. 

Many other services of Samoset to the Plymouth Colony 
cannot be here given in detail. When or by what moans Samo- 
set returned to his native Pemaquid we are not informed ; 
but we hear of him next at " Capmanwagan " (Southport) at 
the time of Levett's visit there in the winter of 1623-4. 
Lcvctt introduces him to us as a " sagamore that hath been 
found very faithful to the English, and hath saved the lives of 
many of our natives, some from starving and some from killing." 
He met Levett and his company with the same generous con- 
fidence he had ever before shown in his intercourse with the 
English, and proi>o,::;ed that perjtetual friendship should l)e main- 



300 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

tained between them " until Tanto carried them to his wig- 
wam, that is, until they died." He had with him, at this time, 
his wife and son, and several other attendants ; and all are ( 
placed before us in an interesting light by the simple narrative t' 
of Levett. Samoset's wife, in particular, conducted herself ;j 
in truly royal style. " When we came to York," he says, !J 
" the masters of the ships came to bid me welcome, and asked 
what savages they were. I told them and thanked them, they ) 
used them kindly, and gave them meat, drink, and tobacco. 
The woman, or reported queen, asked me if they were my 
friends. I told them they were ; then she drank to them, and 
told them they were welcome to her country, and so should all 
my friends be at any time ; she drank also to her husband, and 
bid him welcome to her country too ; for you must understand 
that her father was the sagamore of the place, ^ and left it 
to her at his death, having no more children." 

This, it will be observed, was only a little more than a year , 
before the date of the celebrated Indian deed to John Brown, 
of which an account has already been given. This deed was i 
given by Samoset and Werongait, sagamores of the place. We 
have no information as to the second signer of the deed, as his ' 
name does not again occur ; but Samoset lived many years after t] 
this at Pemaquid, in quiet and peaceful intercourse with the 
settlement, so far as we know. In 1641, and again in 1653, his 
name is mentioned. At the last date it is probable that he was ! 
an old man, and we may suppose soon passed away. It is very \j 
certain that he was not living at the time of King Philip's war. 

Though only an " untutored savage," he has left behind him 
acts highly creditable to him as a man of elevated rank among 
his countrymen. He appears not only to have been entirely i 
free from the jealousies and petty vices of his race, l)ut on all . 

1 It must be noticed that they were now at York, which it seems was hn 
native place, but she had married a man out of her own tribe. 



rOPHAM CELEBRATION. 301 

occasions manifested a love of truth and justice, and a generous 
confidence in others, quite superior to many of the Europeans 
with whom he came in contact. And the fact, that seventy 
years after the last date above mentioned, his name was still 
remembered among the natives as that of a "famous sachem," 
shows that his manly character was not unappreciated by his 
countrymen. 



GEORGE WEYMOUTH AND THE KENNEBEC. 
BY THE llEV. EDWARD BALLARD, OF BRUNSWICK. 

The following notice of this early navigator ^ and his discoveries 
has been prepared by the editor, to supply in part a connection in 
the events, which led to the founding of the colony under President 
George Popham. In past times, the " most excellent river," 
entered and explored by him without his giving its name to the 
public of his day, has been claimed, more as the opinions of the 
diiferent writers have chosen to regard it, than as proved by an 
examination of all the evidence. The Penobscot, the Kennebec, 
the Saco, the Hudson, the .Tames, and more recently, the George's, 
have each had their defenders, as the one which Weymouth exam- 
ined and Rosier described. The purposed obscurity of the account 
naturally led to these disagreements. But fuller information and 
more accurate investigations, leave no uncertainty in determining 
the truth involved in the inquiry. 

Little is known of George Weymouth before he engaged in 
his voyage to the Arctic regions, in search of a Northwest pas- 
sage, from which he returned in 1G03. His experience " by 
employments in discoveries and travels from his childhood," 

1 The sentiment in his honor will be found on page 127. 



802 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

and specially in this last effort in exploring, as well as Ins 
active fidelity to the duties of his commission, made him a 
suitable person to be employed by the Earl of Southampton 
and Lord Arundel of Wardour, in a new enterprise to the 
American shores. The fear, that the neighboring nations of 
Europe might be stimulated to the like efforts in the same 
direction, if the expectations connected with the voyage were 
known, caused its patrons to conceal its destination and hopes 
from general knowledge ; and the public iuind was allowed to 
believe that this second attempt was to be directed to the same 
northern quarter as its predecessor. But in reality, it was 
sent to explore the coast of New England, then known as 
North Virginia, for the purpose of colonization and the bene- 
fits to accrue therefrom. With a partial equipment of men, 
with provisions more than enough for the time occupied, and 
articles for traffic with the natives, he sailed in the ship " Arch- 
angel " from Ratcliffe, England, March 5, 1605, " upon a right 
line " ^ to the new world. He first went to Dartmouth Haven 
to complete his crew, where he was detained by opposing 
winds. But on the thirty-first day he put to sea, with " the 
whole company, being but twenty-nine persons." The narra- 
tor of the voyage was James Rosier ; who says that the 
obscurity of his narration, by omitting to give the latitude, 
longitude, and names of places, was intended, so as to prevent 
foreign nations from gaining an advantage from the success of 
the English. 

But this account, now read with the light thrown upon it 
from other sources, tells us that Weymouth came to the coast 
of New England in the neighborhood of Cape Cod, on the 
13tli of May ; and that afterwards, in turning his course away 
from the perils of that shore, he was misled in seeking land, 
" and much marveled that we descried it not, wherein wc 
found our sea-charts ^ very false, putting land where none is." 

1 Formerly the course had been by the West Indies. 

2 Prepared by former navigators, perhaps Gosnold. , 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 303 

..Four days afterwards, he came to an island, wlncli ho called 
St. George' s,-;r- but by the Indians it was named Monhegan, — 
and anchored about a league from its northern side. From 
this anchorage, " the captain with twelve men rowed in his 
ship boat to the shore," where he erected a cross ; ^ and from 
the island itself, and probably its high part, " a great way (as 
it then seemed, and we after found it) up into the main we 
might discern [i. e. dimly see] high mountains, though the 
main seemed Ijut low land." ~ The evidence, drawn from seve- 
ral circumstances in the account, leads to the belief that 
these distant elevations were the White Mountains ; which 
Levett calls " the Crystal Hill," and says it can be " seen to 
the east so far as Monhegan." ^ The present residents say the 
same. ^ The Camden Hills can hardly be said to be " a great 
way up into the mai)i" as they are not much more than twenty 
miles from the southern point of the peninsula nearest to 
Monhegan, and scarcely more than half that distance from 
" the main," whence the peninsula projects into the ocean. 

The next day he sailed in the direction of these " moun- 
tains," towards the islands lying outside of the broad expanse 
of water, now known as Boothbay Harbor, some of which lie 
about twelve miles from Monhegan ; and which he says were 
about three leagues from it : a league being three geographical 
miles, or 3.45 English or statute miles. This place he called 
" Pentecost Harbor," in memory of the day of his arrival 
there. On one of its shores he set up another cross, and 
" dug wells, to receive the fresh water, which they found 
issuing down out of the land in many places." 

The reasons for this opinion are, that this sheltering place 
then, as now, could be reached hj " four several passages ; " 

1 Strachey in Maine His. Col., p. 290. 

2 Rosier in 3d ser. Mass. His. Col., vol. 8, p. 132. 

3 Maine His. Col., vol. 2, p. 8i. 

4 Maine His. Col., vol. G, pp. 300, 310. See also Id., vol. 5., p. 314. 



304 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

and also that the general description of the water, and the 
land, bating the changes by settlement and cultivation, will 
answer well for the present day. But a special reason for this i 
claim is found in the following fact : that in going to explore 
the "great river," they sailed down to "the islands^ ad- ;j 
joining to the mouth thereof." This course is proved by the i 
fact, that after the captain " had searched the soundings all 
about the mouth and coming to the river," "with a breeze from 
the land," they " sailed [from these islands at the mouth] UP ''■ 
to their watering place, where they filled their casks with the 
fresh water from their wells," and there stopped ^ in the har- 
bor. This description suits the passage from the mouth of the 
Kennebec, — the real Sagadahoc, — and not the Penobscot or 
the George's. For sailing vp from the islunds at the mouth of ' 
either of these rivers, would have carried them away from 
their supposed harbor, amid the islands of the ocean, whether 
at Monhegan ^ or the George's,^ and of course farther inland on 
the river, which they had just before left. 

Here the expedition made its chief tarrying place; culti-^ 
vated acquaintance with the Indians, and collected a vocabu-n 
lary of four or five hundred words and phrases. Of these the J 
narrative gives but two, which show that the language was the 
same as has been preserved in part by Rale. From hence , 
parties went out to explore " the river," which is described in ' 
terms of the highest commendation. 

The question here arises: Was the Kennebec the river which I 
Weymouth entered, and from the mouth and island of whichii 
he sailed up to his anchorage in Pentecost Harbor, " with a 
breeze from the land ? " 

Belknap, who had not seen Hosier's account, but guided by 
Purchas, who made additions to the portions extracted, — uii- 

1 Ros., pp. 14G, 148. 

2 Ros., p. 153. 

3 Me. Hist. Col., vol. 5, p. 348. 4 Me. Hist. Col., vol. G, p. 290. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 305 

less liis N. N. E. is a misprint for N. N. W., in wliicli last let- 
ter lies the complete correction of Belknap's error, — decided 
for the Penobscot. 1 The late John McKeen, Esq., of Bruns- 
wick, in his long and accurate investigations in historical pur- 
suits, discovered the error, and communicated his views in 
behalf of the Kennebec, in a paper published in the Maine 
Historical Collections, volume fifth. Writers since have ingeni- 
ously adopted the George's. But it will be a sufficient answer 
to these claims, to show that the Kennebec was the river that 
drew forth the eulogy of Rosier. The few statements to be 
made are mostly those which Mr. McKeen either proposed in 
writing and conversation, or approved when presented for his 
consideration. It is a pleasant duty of friendship to reproduce 
the thoughts of this honest and industrious investigator in re- 
gard to the path of Weymouth, as it would be to do the same 
for Popham's Colony and Gilbert's exploration on the Andros- 
coggin. 

1. The first of these statements, in addition to the npivard 
course from the river to their watering place is drawn from an 
exploring march, made by Weymouth from its western shore. 

Having left his harbor for this purpose on the 12th of June, 
from his " ship riding in the river," and in his pinnace with 
seventeen men, he ran " up to the cod^e thereof,"^ where they 
landed, leaving six men to guard the boat. 

The Saxon word " codde," in this ancient orthography and 
application, denotes a small creek-like opening of inland water, 
with a narrow entrance where it is connected with the larger 
body. A little bay or creek of this kind, about twelve rods 
wide, is known to have existed, and indeed in large part still 

1 So does the editor of Rosier, p. 154, note ; and also of Gorges' Brief Nar- 
ration, Maine His. Col., vol, 2, p. 17 ; and writers generally following Belknap, 
till Mr. McKeen, 

2 Rosier, p, 140. . 

21 



306 



MEMORIAL VOLUME, 




AND THE 

KENNEBEC 



ENORAMED BY. /C/LSUHH STMAJLORY^ BOSTON- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 807 

remains, in the place now occiipieTti^y the city of Bath, and is 
shown on the accompanying map, having its narrow channel 
opening near the steamboat wharf. ^ It has been sufiiciently 
deep, within the memory of persons now living, to admit a 
vessel much larger than the " pinnace " is supposed to have 
been, and indeed could do the same now, if the entrance 
was not covered with a low culvert in the principal business 
street. It ran back in a south-westerly direction for fifty or 
sixty rods, and then abruptly turned to the north, where it re- 
ceived into the tide a small stream of fresh water, from the 
two abrupt bordering ridges between which it flowed, aad little 
ponds at its head. 

From this inlet, ten of the men " with shot and some armed, 
with a boy to carry the powder and match, marched up into the 
country towards the mountains," which they had seen from the 
heights of Monhegan. ^ The account does not say that they 
now saw the distant summit ; but that they proceeded in that 
direction as they saw it at first. As they came up the river they 
were so near " some of them," as the group appeared in the 
distance, that they deemed themselves " when they landed, 
to have been within a league of them," and this distance 
accords well with their ascribed position in " the codde." It is 
worthy of note in this connection, that in Strachey's account 
of Popham's arrival off Seguin, he gives a sketch representing 
the highlands on the western side of the Kennebec, looking 
north, and calls these same elevations, "The high moun- 
tains;" 2 which, from a right point of view, would make a part 

1 Its outlines in its primitive state are given in Hammatt's Map of the "Town 
of Bath," 1833. 

2 Here Purchas perplexes by adding that they were " continually in our 
view." This is true of the highlands in Phipsburg and Bath, near which they 
passed on the river, and which make the foreground of the " clump." There 
are, however, several places in Bath where the White Mountains can be seen. 

3 Maine Hist. Col., vol. 3, p. 298. 



308 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of the foreground, in wliicli " tlie twinkling mount of Auco- 
cisco," ^ would appear as the crowning ridge. 

The party marched up into the country in the direction in- 
dicated, " about four miles in the main ; - passed over three 
hills ; at the bottom of every hill a little run of fresh water ; 
and the last ran with a great stream, able to drive a mill." 

All this is true now. Going diagonally to the right from 
the north side of the little bay still partly open, as indicated 
on the accompanying map, the pedestrian passes over a steep 
hill, now at one place ascended by stairs. On the other side 
at the bottom, formerly several feet lower than now, wdiere the 
railroad track is laid, is a " little run of fresh water," flowing 
toward the tide of the ancient " codde," with its original course 
somewhat diverted by the filling up for the railroad. Thence 
he ascends another hill, and in descending the slope beyond 
the summit, comes to a second rivulet of " fresh water," flow- 
ing in the opposite direction ; and at a longer distance across 
the third rise to the " Waskeag," ^ which has been able " to 
drive a mill " for centuries, and does now. The rambling na- 
ture of the excursion will account for the estimated distance. 
The kind of trees and other vegetation, and the character of 

1 This is Smith's description of the White Mountains, which he places on his 
map less than five leagues from the salt water in Casco Bay. Perhaps to such 
a foreground as is mentioned above, he applied on his map the name " The 
Base." May not " Casco " be the same as '• Aucoc'isco," with its first syllable 
sounded as an Indian guttural, and the accent on the second, as if pronounced 
" Uh-cos'-is-co 1 " The name " Koskebee " occurs in Mr. Poor's Address, 
[p. 68, ante], denoting the inner portion of Portland Harbor, and meaning 
"Crane-Water." [Me. Hist. Col., vol. 6, pp. 14G, 147]. It was easy for the 
English to change the native word to " Casco Bay," and make it embrace the 
waters, with their multitudinous isles of beauty and value, between Cape Eliza- 
beth and Small Point. 

2 i. e. " For the most part ; or about ; " afterwards he speaks of " the space 
of about three miles." 

3 Commonly pronounced Whiskeag. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 309 

the soil, harmonizes with the description given, even at the 
present day. 

As they were returning to the ship in the pinnace, they 
" espied a canoe, coming from the further part of the codde of 
the river eastward, which hasted to ns," ^ bearing an Indian, 
whom they had a special reason for knowing in Boothbay Har- 
bor, and who had come west through a well known inland pas- 
sage with a message to the captain from the Bashaba. This 
accuracy of expression, — " the codde of the river eastward," 
was used in opposition to the ^^ codde" westward, which the 
explorers had just left. This eashvard passage, appearing to 
these strangers like a narrow and receding bay, is the strait 
between Arrowsic and Woolwich, which spreads out broadly 
at a short distance within, and affords a passage through the 
" Gates " to the Sheepscote, through which the Jesuits came 
to the Kennebec for grain in 1611,- and also a southerly one 
to the ocean. 

It is here believed that these striking circumstances respect- 
ing the western " codde," the " march," the " three hills," 
and as many " fresh water streams," with " the codde of the 
river eastward," and the return "up" to their harbor, have 
never Ijeen fully noticed or explained in their relation to the 
other rivers mentioned. 

2. A second exploring excursion was made the next day, 
further " up to that part of the river which trended westward 
into the main, to search that," where Weymouth had probably 
been to discover on the 30th of May." 

The company started "by two o'clock in the morning" by 
reason of the favoring tide. They " carried with them a cross 
to be erected at that point" where the waters turn to the 

1 Rosier, p. 150. 

2 Biard's Rel., p. 36, 



810 



MEMORIAL VOLUME. 



west ; ^ which, because they reached the place before day- 
light, they left there until their return, when they " set it up 
in manner as the former " on Monhegan, afterwards found by 
Popham. On the waters of the Merrymeeting " trending west- 
ward," they sailed up into the Androscoggin, " towards the 

great mountains," and found the 
■' profit and pleasure, described 
in the former part of the river, 
wholly doubled in this." 

But the particular feature in 
these waters, bearing convincing 
testimony to the identity of the 
river, is contained in the follow- 
ing extract : " From each bank 
of the river are divers branching 
streams into the main, whereby 
is afforded an unspeakable profit 
by the conveniency of transpor- 
tation from place to place, which, 
in some countries, is both charge- 
alile, and not to be fit by carriages, 
or wain, or horseback." - 

In no part of the account is 
the description more matchable 
with the unchangeable facts. — 
Personal acquaintance with these 

THE " BRANCHING STREAMS " OF •mE'^^^^^''^, ov thc map of Sagada- 
" GREAT RIVER," (kennebec.) lioc Couuty, of wliicli a section is 

1. Androscoggin. 2. Paazeske, or Muddy. herC givCU, sllOWS that thCSC 
3. Cathance. 4. Abagadusset. 5. Kennebec. ,, , . . 

6. Mundooscotook, or Eastern. 7. Butlei'd " braUChmg StrCaUlS, WlUCll 

Cove. 8. whisby. 9. waskeag. 10. winne- ^^ ^|^g ^^q^^ paragraph arc Called 

gauce Creek. 11. Back River. 12. do. 13. . . 

To wessuc, or Trott'B Crock, and Chops' Creek. " arms rUliniug Up llltO tllO 

1 The aboriginal name of this point was " Acquehadongonock," " Sinoked- 
Fish-Poiut ;" now called "Chops' Point," from the narrowness of the opening 
out of Merrymeeting Bay into the lower Kennebec. 

~ Rosier, p. 151. 




POPHAM CELEBRATION. 311 

main," — arc the Androscoggin, the Psazesk^ or Muddy, Cat- 
hance, Abagadusset, and the Kennebec ; all of them opening 
into the expanse of the " great river," and the smallest large 
enough to bear heavy boatable burdens for several miles inland, 
and all of them actually used for that purpose. Butler's Cove, 
more " arm "-like when its sides were clad with trees ; the 
Whisby, from which a canal was dug in later years to the New 
Meadows River, opening into Casco Bay ; the Waskeag, both 
on the western side of the Kennebec just below the Point ; 
the Towessuc and its neighbor stream. Chops' Creek, with 
their cove-like mouths, nearly opposite ; Back River, over 
against Bath ; the Winnegance inlet, and the river-like passage, 
dividing Arrowsic from Georgetown, all boatable, with others 
of smaller note, may be added ; as also at a short distance 
above the Bay, the Mundooscotook, or Eastern River, equally 
used for transportation by sailing vessels for miles upward. ^ 

The like confluence of navigable streams within so narrow 
a compass, is not to be found in either of the rivers into which 
it has been argued that Weymouth entered ; and we need not 
wonder that these advantages for commercial pursuits filled 
the mind of Rosier, beholding the whole with the admiring 
eyes and vivid impressions of a first voyager ; ^ and that he 
should celebrate its praises in terms little short of extravagant. 
The distances were given^ by estimation, and are not probably 
too long, if compared with the shore line, along which he 
must have gone to see the branching rivers and their shores 
covered with " clear grass." 

This remarkable fact of these several confluent streams has 

1 Lescarbot gives the results of De Monts' researches the same year. His 
Map shows the Androscoggin, Merrymeeting Bay, the Kennebec, and Swan 
Island. 

2 He says : " It floweth eighteen or twenty feet at high water." This mention 
of its depth has been strangely taken to mean the rise of the tide. But the 
connection shows it to have been the depth of the riper at flood tide, which is 
trae now. 



312 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

not received merited attention from the advocates of the I'enob- 
scot and George's theory. As no similar fact is there known, 
this evidence alone may be deemed conclusive ; and the various 
incidents of the exploration, as well as the distances, can be 
shown to be in agreement with Weymouth's entrance into the 
Kennebec. 

3. The testimony from ancient maps may be here intro- 
duced. 

Smith's map (1614), gives the Kennebec with the two 
" coddes," as far as Richmond, and in Merrymeeting Bay places 
five intimations of the entrances of the " branching streams." 
It gives but little space to George's Bay, and less still to its 
river, and none to the Penobscot above its broad bay ; thus 
showing the value he put on the Kennebec as the river for trade 
and profit. The Dutch maps of 1616 ^ and 1621 give no in- 
dication of the George's, which they could hardly have failed 
to do if it had been deemed of great commercial promise. It 
is the same on the maps of Lescarbot, La Hqntan, and Char- 
levoix, though they all give the Kennebec and Penobscot. A 
map in " Heylin's Cosmography" (1663), shows two large 
rivers. The easternmost is " Pentoget," an ancient name ap- 
plied to the Penobscot. The other with two large branches, 
and the only one on the New England coast thus depicted, 
bears the name of " Weymouth." But the George's has no 
place. 

4. But in addition to these testimonies there are statements 
in early writers to show that Mr. McKeen entertained no new 
theory, when he disclosed the unintended error of Belknap. 
In this country Hubbard had said, long before any controversy 
had arisen on the point, that ." Att this time they discovered a 
great river in those parts, supposed to be Kennibecke, neare unt«^ 

1 Ante, p. 155. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 313 

Pemmaquid, which he found navigable 40 miles up into the 
country, 7, 8, 9, or 10 fathome deepe, as Capt, "Weymouth re- 
ports."^ Prince, at a later date (1732), records of the river that 
"Weymouth entered, " this seems to be Sagadahoc." ^ He adds, 
that " Sir F. Gorges doubtless mistakes in calling it Pemaquid 
River." It is not here known from what part of Gorges' " Nar- 
ration " this was taken. But it is probable that he meant the 
region, not the river of Pemaquid, a stream of no commercial 
importance. He says, " AVeymouth happened into a river on 
the coast of America, called Pemaquid." (ch. H). It would 
seem that by this name he meant the coast ; and the river might 
then be the "great river" on this coast. Smith ^ says that 
"Weymouth's '' Relation " described " Pemaquid," which surely 
must denote the " coast." ^ Belknap stands alone in saying 
that the " Penobscot was sometimes called Pemaquid." ^ 

In England we have the clear and explicit testimony of 
Strachey. As Secretary under the charge of the Virginia 
Company, he had access to papers in their possession, and was 
also in the way of hearing the verbal reports of persons en- 
gaged in the discovery ; and therefore his record of facts must 
be regarded as ample evidence touching " the most excellent 
and beneficyall river of Sagadahoc;" ^ He quotes largely 
the very language of Rosier ; gives to the world the name which 
Rosier studiously concealed, and adds to his description but 
little else. In immediate connection with these statements, he 
describes the colony of Popham as coming directly to the same 
river, doubtless chosen for occupancy from "Weymouth's infor- 
mation. 

1 Hist. N. E., p. 12. 

2 Chron. p. 109. 

3 3tl series Mass. H. C, vol. 6, p. lOG. 

4 Ante, p. 2G4, see a similar opinion expressed. 

5 Biog., p. 150. 

6 In Me. H. C, vol. 5, p. 300, it is asserted that " Sagadahoc " may be ap- 
plied to any river. But universal Indian and English usage restrict it to the 
Kennebec when employed as a local name. — Ante, p. 9, note. 



314 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

For ho says : " That upon his (Weymouth's) returne, his 
goodly report with Capt. GosnoUs cawsed the business with so 
prosperous and faire starrs to be accompanied," that new en- 
terprises were commenced ; in which was actively engaged, — 
under " the letters patents, the tenth of April, 1606," — " the 
upright and noble gentleman, ^ late Lord Chief Justice of 
England, chief patron of the same, Sir John Popham, knight.""^ 

Among these enterprises were the voyages of Chalons and 
Prynn, destined to the Sagadahoc, but without success for set- 
tlement. Then came the colony of Popham and Gilbert, who 
sailed for the same river, and settled within it, because, as in 
the two previous expeditions, it had been recommended by 
Weymouth. For it would have been strange indeed, that if 
either the Penobscot or George's had been so eulogized, they 
should have sailed past both in good weather, and purposely 
have sought " Satquin " as a landmark, and the neighborhood 
of Sagadahoc in a storm, into which so strong was the wind, 
that on the first attempt, only " the fly-boat gott in." But 
their perseverance effected their intention, and they thus illus- 
trated a chief motive, which Williamson ascribes to the pro- 
moters of Weymouth's voyage ; namely, the advantages of 
prior possession and continued claim. ^ 

The advocates of the other theories fail to allow Strachey a 
fair hearing. As a competent witness both in opportunity and 
knowledge, as well as fidelity in narration, his testimony, cor- 
roborated by the facts that the first attempts at colonization 
were directed to the mouth of the Kennebec, is sufficient to 
gain a verdict in favor of this river. 

If the foregoing positions are true as to the geographical re- 
lations of Pentecost Harbor to " the islands adjoining to the 

1 Smith had the like opinion of the Chief Justice, whom he styles " that 
honorable patron of virtue." — 3d Series Mass. H. C, vol. G, p. 105. 

2 Me. H. C, vol. 3, pp. 289, 290. Gorges also laments of him that he " had 
lost so noble a friend, and his nation so worthy a subject."— Nar., ch. 9. 

3 Williamson, vol. 1, p. 191. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 315 

mouth of the ' great river,' " as well as to the discoveries made 
therein ; if maps of the olden time can speak evidence ; and 
if the affirmation of American and English historians, made 
before any doubt or controversy had arisen on the subject, be 
of value in determining facts, then is it plain that the Kennebec 
was " Weymouth River ; " ^ Boothbay was Pentecost Harbor ; 
and tlie course from Monhegan to the outlying islands at its 
opening, was " in the road directly with the mountains ; " 
which, by a line drawn according to this indication, a little 
north of " Fisherman's Island," in the Damariscove group, are 
shown to he the White Mountains, and which, on a nearer ai> 
proacli, would have the smaller coast elevations in range, form- 
ing the foreground of the landscape. - 

In reading the narrative of Rosier, it is a pleasure to witness 
the devout spirit of the writer in his frequent recognition of 
divine Providence in protecting the company of explorers, and 
the benevolent purpose for which the voyage was made. " For," 
he writes, " we supposed not a little present profit, but a public 
good and true zeal of promulgating God's holy church, by 

1 Heylin saj^s, " Weymouth Rio." In Ogilby's Map of New England, etc., 
the word " Rio " is applied to several well-known rivers. This use of a Spanish 
word implies that the map makers consulted Spanish authorities. Ships of this 
nation were on the North American coast as early as 1578, and continued after- 
wards engaged in fishing. It is not improbable that Weymouth's discoveries 
on the Kennebec were known to them, whicli might have been learned from 
Chalons while their prisoner. 

2 While these pages were in press, an intelligent gentleman, familiar with 
coast and ocean voyages, states, " that on two occasions, and early in the sum- 
mer, he saw the White Mountains distinctly, when about ten miles southwest of 
Monhegan. On one occasion the mountains were very white, the snow not 
having entirely melted. On both occasions no land was in sight in the direction 
of the mountains. They seemed to rise out of the sea." A line, drawn from 
the point thus indicated, to the White Mountains, shows a distance but little 
greater than from the supposed point of AVeymouth's anchorage north of Mon- 
hegan. Another gentleman, of the like experience, once saw them clearly for 
several hours from the neighborhood of Nantucket, a distance perhaps even 
greater. The sight might have been aided by a high state of refraction. 



316 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

planting Christianity, to be the sole interest of the honorable 
setters forth of this discovery." ^ Weymouth, whose care and 
activity as a commander is favorably presented, appears to have 
been actuated by a similar spirit. The fact of his having 
" service " on ship-board on Saturday evening, at -which two 
Indians, invited to supper, afterwards attended, and " behaved 
themselves very civilly ; " and the strictness of his observance 
of " the Sabbath day " following, are indications of regularity 
in the duties of religious worship, such as is known to have 
been observed by many Arctic navigators, reminding us of 
Smith's account of " daily common Prayer morning and even- 
ing," besides the services " on Sundaies," in Virginia. It is 
not improbable that a chaplain made a part of the complement 
of men in the Archangel. 

In opposition, may be placed his capture of five Indians, of 
whom " Tahanedo " was a "sagamore or commander," ~ to 
carry them to England. Of these only two appear to have 
been taken against their will. But while this action may not 
be easy to be justified by present views, it may be said, that 
he regarded them as natural curiosities, — wild men, — to be 
taken as wild animals and shown to his friends at home, and 
thus advance the interests of the enterprise. They all received 
kind usage. One was specially " delighted with tlieir com- 
pany ; " and the two, that were at the first surprised, never 
seemed discontented, " but very tractable, loving and willing 
by their best means to satisfy us in any thing we demand of 
them." On their arrival in England, three of them were 
taken by Gorges, who regarded their coming as most auspicious 
for the colonizing interests of the country, in which he was the 
leader, giving to them his time, venturing ^ his estate in their 
promotion, and suffering great losses. For he says, " This 
accident (of the Indians coming into his hands) must be 

1 Rosier, p. 153. 

2 Ante, p. 224, note 2. 

3 Nanation, chapter 2. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. ' 317 

acknowledged the means under God of putting on foot and 
giving life to all our plantations." ^ And thus this act of Wey- 
mouth and his kind treatment of the captives, became one of 
the connecting links between English civilization and American 
colonization. Nahanada prepared the way for Popham, who 
followed the intimations of Weymouth, and placed his colony 
at the mouth of the Kennebec. 



THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND EARLY AMERICAN DISCOVERY 
AND COLONIZATION. 

BY KEV. WILLIAM STEVENS PEURY, OF PORTLAND. 

The deep religious character of the colonists, preceding 
those of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, has been little 
noticed by historians, and rarely if ever alluded to in the more 
popular compends whence most of our countrymen gain their 
acquaintance with the discovery and settlement of our shores. 

1 From the great risks and losses sustained by Gorges, he may well be called, 
as he sometimes has been, " an adventurer." But it must be in accordance 
with the usage of his times ; and in the same sense as Hubbard describes the 
members of the joint stock company, which was formed by the London mer- 
chants, "the adventurers," with "those of Leyden," before sailing to Plym- 
outh, " the poor people, who were to adventure their persons as well as estates." 
All persons engaging to go, above sixteen years old, are named " adventurers 
and planters," as members of this "joint stock and partnership for the space 
of seven years," when the capital and profits were to be divided. [Hubbard, 
Appendix to Morton's Memorial, pp. 279, 280.] But " the company of adven- 
turers broke in pieces " in 1625. [Prince Chron.] It was no discredit to the 
early and constant patron of the discoverers and colonists to our shores to bear 
that name ; nor others to engage the services of men at a price, as did the 
persevering settlers at Plymouth, when they " hired the master and his company 
(in one of the ships engaged) to stay a whole year in the country ; " and not 
wasting their toil in a hopeless exploring for mines, which were a common ex- 
pectation, sought and found their profit in support of the settlement, from the 
" fishes of the sea." [Morton's IMemorial, pp. 20, 29.] 



318 ■ MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

And yet, as might have been inferred from the condition of 
both Church and State in England, — at a time not very far 
removed from the purifying of the Reformation and the Marian 
fires, and when, in the ceaseless and embittered struggle with 
France and Spain for the Empire of the West, it was a relig- 
ions war that was waged, in which Raleigh, Gilbert, Drake, 
and their compeers, were champions of the Protestant faith of 
the English Church, against the Papacy and its allies, — the 
leaders of colonization at home, the earliest voyagers to our 
shores, and the settlers here, were men influenced as much by 
the desire for the salvation of souls, the good of the Church 
of Christ, and the wide extension of the limits of a common 
Christianity, as any that followed them. Perhaps a few refer- 
ences to the well-established facts of history, will fittingly 
preface and confirm the statements I propose to make, with 
reference to the piety and faith of the little colony at Port St. 
George in Maine in 1607-8, the anniversary of whose landing 
day has of late received, for the first time, appropriate 
attention. 

Even at the early date of A. D. 1578, had the wilds of 
North America echoed with the solemn words of the service of 
the English Church, — words fitting, from their scripturalness 
and their spirituality, to be the vehicle of the first act of public 
Protestant devotion in a new world. Martin Frobisher, who 
first led an English colony to our shores, and among whose 
" Articles and Orders to be observed for the Electe," was 
" Imprimis, to banish swearing, dice, and card-playing, and 
filthy communication, and to serue God twice a day with the 
ordinary seruice as usuall in the churches of England," ^ was 
wont thus to set sail on his expeditions of discovery and col- 
onization : 

" On Monday morning, the 27th of May, aboored the Ayde, we received all 
the Communion by the Minister of Grauesend, and prepared us as good Chris- 

1 Hakkiyt 3, lA, in Trot. Ep. Hist. Col. 2, 244. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 319 

! tians towards God, and resolute men for all fortunes. And towards night we 
departed for Tilberry Hope." 1 

And so when on his* third voyage, Frobisher took with him 
' a hundred colonists to settle on the lands he had discovered, 

the narrative of his Expedition tells of the services and char- 
I acter of Wolfall, their Chaplain, who was certainly the first 

Protestant missionary as well as minister on our continent. 

It was after the recital of a marked deliverance that the old 
; annalist proceeds to tell that, 

I " They highly pra}'sed God, and altogether vnpon their knees gave Ilim due, 
. humble and hearty thanks ; and Maister Wolfall, a learned man, appointed by 
I her Majestie's Councell to be their Minister and Preacher, made vnto them a 
godley sermon, exhorting them especially to be thankeful to God for their strange 
and miraculous deliuerance in those so dangerous places and putting them in 
mind of the vncertaiatie of man's life, willed them to make themselves alwayes 
readie as resolute men to enjoy and accept thankfully whatsoeuer aduenture 
His diuine Providence should appoint. This Maister Wolfall, being well seated 
and settled at home in his owne countrey, with a good and large liuing, having 
' a good honest woman to wife and very towardly children, being of good repu- 
; tation among the best, refused not to take in hand this paineful voyage, for the 
I onely care he had to saue soules, and to reforme these infidels if it were possi- 
ble to Christianitie : and also partly for the great desire that he had that this 
notable voyage so well begunne, might be brought to perfection : and therefore 
he was contented to stay the whole yeare, if occasion had serued, being in 
' euery necessary action, as forward as the resolutest men of them all. Where- 
fore, in this behalfe, he may rightly be called a true Pastor and Minister of • 
God's Word, which for the profite of his fiocke spared not to venture his own 
hfe." 

The pious faith of these brave discoverers, and the source 
whence their strength for endurance came, appears in further 
r extracts such as this, under date of August 20th, 1578 : 

" Maister Wolfall on Winter's Fornace, preached a godly sermon, which 
being ended, he celebrated also a Communion upon the land, at the partaking 
whereof was the Captain of the Anne Francis, and many other Gentlemen and 
Souldiers, Mariners and Miners with him. The celebration of the diuine mys- 

^ Id. in Anderson's Hist. Colon. Ch. 1, 81. 



320 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

tery was the first signe, seale, and confirmation of Christ's name, death, and 
passion, euer knowen in these quarters. The said Mr. Wolfall made sermons, 
and celebrated the Oommuuion at sundry other times, in seuerall and sundry 
ships, because tlie whole company could neuer meet together in any one 
place"! 

The same year Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained his patent 
for discovery, which, as his son Raleigh Gilbert was connected 
with the " Popham" Colony, stands in close relationship with 
that later movement we are about to notice. This Patent con- 
ferred upon the worthy Knight full power and authority over 
the lands he should discover, and es^tablished in the Colonies to 
be settled under his leadership, " the true Christian faith or 
religion now professed in the Church of England."- In pur- 
suance of these designs, after one unsuccessful attempt, Gilbert 
and his company landed on the shores of Newfoundland on 
Sunday, August 4, 1583, and on the following day, with " twig 
and turf," took formal possession of the island. This dona, 
the first of all the laws which he enacted, enjoined that the 
services of religion should be " in publique exercise according 
to the Church of England."^ Lost at sea in a fearful storm 
on his return voyage, Gilbert died as a Christian hero should 
die. Choosing the weakest vessel as his own, he was last seen 
" sitting abaft with a booke in his hand," and his last words 
were, "we are as neare to heaven by sea as by land." The 
sea swallowed him up ; but his faith and his example were the 
encouragements of those who, a few years later, settled on the 
coast of Maine. 

1 Anderson's Colon. Ch. 1, pp. 81, 82. It is an interesting fact, that the 
place where Frobisher made his tarrying place in the strait, or rather bay, as 
it now appears, bearing his name, has recentlj'' been visited ; and undoubted 
traces discovered of the men, who were lost by him among the Esquimaux. 
[C. F. Hall, in American Geog. and Statistical Soc, N. Y., Nov. 6, 1862.] 

2 Id. p. 48. Hazard's State Papers, vol. 1, p 24. The early charters, as con- 
tained in Hazard, are full of proof of this design of Christianizing the Indians. 

3 Id. 1, p. 50. Falfrey's Hist. N. E., 1, p. G8. 



POPIIAM CELEBRATION. 321 

The close connection of the English Church with these early 
efforts for maritime discovery and colonization, is seen in the 
aid given by tlic Rev. Richard Hakluyt, the excellent preben- 
dary of Westminster, in the early expeditions following Gos- 
nold's return in 1602. The expedition of Martin Pring, in 
1603, was undertaken by the chief merchants and inhabitants 
of Bristol, mainly at the solicitation and through the influence 
of this noble Churchman, whose name is not only inseparably 
connected with the efforts for settlement, but is also illustrious 
for the pious care with which he has preserved for posterity 
the quaint narratives of the old voyages. Hakluyt had earlier 
incited Raleigh to the work to which this nobleman afterwards 
gave so many of his best years, on the ground that " no 
greater monument could he raise ; no brighter name could 
he leave to future generations, than the evidence that 
he had therein sought to restrain the fierceness of the bar- 
barian, and enlighten his darkened mind to the knowl- 
edge of the true God." ^ And now that Raleigh's efforts 
to the Southward had failed of permanence, — though there 
had been gained at Raleigh's colony at Roanoke, in 1587, the 
baptism into the English Church of the first aboriginal convert 
to Christianity, - — Hakluyt sought in other quarters to en- 
courage that spirit of adventure and colonization which should 
result in the gain of lands and nations to the service of Christ 
and His Church. ^ 

The expedition which Hakluyt had aided in sending to the 
Northeast coast of America in 1603, was followed by another, 
also dispatched from Bristol, under the command of George 
Weymouth, in 1605, fitted out by Henry Wriothesley, Earl of 
Southampton, the friend and patron of Shakspeare, and Thomas, 

1 Latin Epist. Dedic. to Peter Marj;^r's Hist. New World. 

2 Anderson, voL 1, p. 75. Bancroft, vol, 1, on Early Settlements. 

3 In Anderson, 1, pp. 150-162. 



322 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

Lord Arundel, ^ who had earlier been concerned in Gosnold's 
expedition. We have no certain knowledge that this expedi- 
tion was accompanied by a chaplain, other than the fact that 
voyagers rarely went on such undertakings without the pres- 
ence of a clergyman, and the inference we may draw from 
Hosier's own words in his account of the voyage, where he 
says they had two of the Indians " in presence at service, who . 
behaved themselves very civilly, neither laughing nor talking ; 
all the time." ^ This whole account, to quote the fitting Ian. 
gViage of Anderson, 3 "bears evident marks of having been 
written by one who, whilst he recorded fresh discoveries and 
opportunities of extending temporal dominion, sought thereby 
to enlarge the borders of Christ's spiritual kingdom." An 
instance of this we may cite where the true olijects of the ex- 
pedition are announced, by Rosier : " We supposing not a little 
present profit, but a public good and true zeal of promulgating 
God's holy Church by planting Christianity, to be the sole in- 
terest of the honorable setters forth of this discovery," &c. 

It was on the receipt of the cheering intelligence gained by 
these voyages, that there appeared the first Letters Patent, 
dated April 10, 1606, granted by King James I. for the planta- 
tion of Virginia, lying between the 34th and 45th degrees of 
north latitude, and divided into two parts, called South and 
North Virginia. The religious character of those who sought 
these grants is apparent from the professed object of their 
efforts for Colonization as set forth in the Patent itself, where 
it is expressly stated that the desire of the Patentees was 
granted by the King, that 

" So noble a worke may by the Trovidence of Almighty God liereafter tend 
to the glorie of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian religion to such 

1 Strachey, Hist. Trav. p. 158. Williamson, 1, p. 191. 

2 3d ser. Mass. H. C, vol, 8, p. 139. 

3 Col. Ch., 1, p. 162. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 323 

people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge 
and worship of God, and may in time bring the infidels and savages (living in 
those parts) to human civility and to a settled and quiet government." l 

An ordinance under the sign-manual of the King, and the 
Privy Seal, explanatory of these Letters Patent, and passed 
November 20, 1606, before any expedition under either of 
these grants had sailed, further declares, 

" That the said presidents, councils, and the ministers, should provide that 
the Word and service of God be preached, planted, and used, not only in the 
said colonies, but also, as much as might be, among them, according to the 
rites and doctrine of the Church of England." 2 

Under this Royal Patent the first expedition to Virginia 
sailed December 19, 1606, and landed at Jamestown, May 13, 
1607. This colony had for its chaplain the saintly Robert 
Hunt, an English clergyman chosen for this work by the cele- 
brated Hakluyt, with the concurrence of Archbishop Bancroft, 
the Primate of all England. Of his pious labors, and of the 
godly men who followed him, Bucke, Whittaker, and Copeland, 
and others like them, devoted Presbyters of the English Church, 
we have not time to speak. They labored not alone for the 
white colonists, but for the aborigines. Their efforts were not 
I unsuccessfid, and their record is on high. 

, A little later the same year. May 31, 1607, — the expedi- 
i tions thither of the preceding year having proved unsuccessful, 
' — the first colony to the Northern Virginia, or, as afterwards 
" called. New England, set sail from Plymouth, under the patron- 
I age of Sir John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England, and 
i Sir Ferdinand© Gorges. This expedition, as was the case with 
^ that to the Chesapeake, had its chaplain. It is but recently 
that his name has been discovered. That honored name is 

1 Anderson, 1, p. 1G5. 

- Id. 1, p. 1G6. Stith's Va., p. 37. Chalmers's Poht. Annals, p. 16. 



324 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Richard Seymour. An ingenious conjecture has been lately- 
advanced by one of our most exact and well-informed historical 
investigators, that this clergyman was connected with the Du- 
cal house of Somerset, the family name of which house being 
the same as that of our first New England missionary clergy- 
man, and that he was possibly a younger son of the first Duke, 
who was himself, but a few days afterwards, a Patentee in the 
company which succeeded that of which we have been speaking. 
Be this as it may, that Richard Seymour was a Presbyter of 
the English Church, has been acknowledged by our most pains- 
taking and accurate historical writers, ^ and the language of 
Strachey, the historian of the expedition, in which the services 
of the Church and the " publike prayers " themselves, are re- 
ferred to in language which is conclusive on this point. 

This colony, brought to our coast in a fly-boat called the 
Gift of God, under Popham's command, and the good ship 
Mary and John, of London, of which Raleigh Gilbert, son of 
Sir Humphrey, was the captain, came in August 7, to an island 
where " they found a crosse set up, one of the same which 
Captain George Weyman, in his discovery, for all after occa- 
sions, left," and on " Sonday, the chief of both the shipps, with 
the greatest part of all the company, landed on the island 
where the crosse stood, the which they called St. George's 
Island, and heard a sermon delivered unto them by Mr. Sey- 
mour, his preacher, and soe returned abourd againe." Having 
chosen a fitting place for their settlement, near the mouth of 
the river, on the 19th of August, 1707, as Strachey informs 
us, — 

" They all went aslioare wliere they had made choise of their plantation, and 
where they had a sermon delivered unto them by their preacher ; and after the 
sermon, the president's commission was read, with the lawes to be observed 
and kept." 

1 Ante, p. 101. Bartlett in Ch, Monthly, 1, p. 5G. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 325 

Mindful of their professed designs for the instruction of the 
Indians, after several explorations, in which, though under 
much provocation, they abstained from firing their guns at the 
craftj natives, they sought to bring them to their humble 
church, and there acquaint them with the worship of the Eng- 
lishman's God. Under date of October -Ith, the narrative thus 
details one of these efforts : 

" There came two canoas to the fort, in which were Nahanada and his wife, 
and Skidwares, and the Basshabaes brother, and one other called Araenquin, a 
Sagamo ; all of whome the president feasted and entertayned with all kind- 
ness, both that day and the next, which being Sondaye, the president carried 
them with him to the place of publike prayers, which they were at both morn- 
ing and evening, attending yt with great reverence and silence." 1 

Thus cultivating amity with the natives, and thus mindful 
of their God and Church, this little colony proceeded to estab- 
! lish themselves upon our soil, with success for a season. 

The church thus inaugurated in Maine, reappeared twenty- 
eight years afterwards, when first Richard Gibson, and then 
Robert Jordan came to minister to the settlements on the coast. 
They were checked in their labors by the restrictions of the 
Massachusetts government, even so far as by imprisonment for 
; clerical duties ; and after that colony, " under pretence of an 
i imaginary patent line, did invade our rights and privileges, 
erecting their own authority," ^ at length the Church was com- 
i pelled to yield to that power, and depart from the place, leav- 
ing her members without the ministrations of their affections 
and choice. 

The question has been presented, how do we know that 

the Common Prayer prefaced the sermon given on that memo- 

I rable August 19, 1607, thus giving it claim to the honor of 

, having been the first form of worship in the English tongue 

1 Strachey, pp. 168, 172, 178. 

2 Me. Hist. Col., vol. 1, p. 302. 



326 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

sounded on the crisp air of New England ? The subsequent 
language of Strachey, where he refers to the " morning and 
evening" and " puhlike prayers," is certainly conclusive, 
when we remember that the use of the Boolv of Common 
Prayer was then obligatory by the terms of the very patent 
under which these men liad sailed. The nature of the service 
in which they were engaged confirms this statement. It was 
the public induction into office of the magistrates of the new 
plantation ; and the statute law of England then, as was the 
case for many subsequent years, required the reception of the 
sacrament from the hands of a clergyman of the Established 
Church, either at the time or immediately after such formal 
institution. This was the case in the sister colony of Virginia, 
where, on June 21st, of this same year, the' day after the mem- 
bers of the council had been fully sworn in, and the organiza- 
tion of the government happily accomplished, the Holy Sacra- 
ment was duly celebrated for the first time within the limits of 
the United States.^ That a similar observance marked these 
inaugural rites on our Northern coast, it is hardly possible to 
doubt ; and the fact tliat special mention is not made of it by 
Strachey, who received his knowledge of the fortunes of the 
Sagadahoc Colony at second hand, and who has condensed liis 
account of their proceedings into the briefest possible space, is 
easily explained on the ground that such a procednre was the 
ordinary rule, and that only the exception would be likely to 
receive direct notice. Surely to convince us that the Episcopal 
Liturgy was used in connection witli this sermon, it were 
enough to cite, in addition to the positive injunction of the 
Patent, the " laws of uniformity " and " canons ecclesiastical" 
of England then enforced by the court of High Commission. 
The disuse of this service would have perilled the very exist- 
ence of the company, had they desired it ; while the fact that 
they sent out in every subsequent case none but clergymen 

1 Andersen, vol. 1, pp. 174, 175. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 327 

well affected toward the Church of England, ' proves that no 
such wish was ever entertained by them. The connection of 
the principal men of the colony with England's highest noble- 
men as well as with her Christian worthies of an earlier day, 
goes to confirm the fact of the Episcopal character of both 
preacher and people ; and Popham's brother, holding office 
under the Crown, and Raleigh's nephew, and Gilbert's son, 
would hardly be found linked in with the " separatists " from 
the English Church at so early a date as this. In fact, the 
"separation" from the Church of England had not as yet 
begun ; for, if we may credit Neal, the first actual instance of 
" Independency " or " Congregationalism " in England was 
not till the year 1616, when Henry Jacob gathered his 
"Church," and openly separated from the Establishment.^ 

And now, to sum up all this matter in the language of one, 
the weight of whose authority has secured these words of his a 
place in the Historical Collections of Maine, these facts are 
established : " That the first religious services [in the English 
language] of which any knowledge has been preserved, as 
having taken place in New England, were performed by the 
chaplain of this colony ; that these services were held in 
accordance with the ritual of the Church of England ; that 
the minister who celebrated this worship and preached these 
sermons was a clergyman of that Church, deriving his au- 
thority for his sacred office from ordination by the hands of a 
Bishop of the same Church ; and that these acts were per- 
formed at first on an island, and in the open air, and afterwards 
continuously in a church near the Kennebec River, on the 
west side of one of the peninsulas of the coast, in the year 
1607, thirteen years before the landing of the colony on Plym- 
outh Rock, and some time before the Puritans left England to 
reside for a season in Holland."^ 

1 The Rev. William Morrell in Massachusetts, and Gibson and Jordan in 
Maine, were pioneer clergymen of this Church. 

2 Neal's History, Pt. 2, ch. 2. 

s Maine His. Col., vol. 6, pp. 177, 178. 



328 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The celebration of this interesting event, the first real occu- 
pation and settlement of New England, from whicli the title of 
England to a most important share of the northern coast of 
America dates, •would have been confessedly imperfect, and 
certainly unworthy of the high and holy faith of the adven- 
turers whom it would commemorate, without suitable religious 
services. It was but just that this commemoration should 
reproduce the words of prayer and praise first echoed on the 
still air of New England in August, 1607. 

These very tuords, made use of two hundred and fifty-five 
years ago by Richard Seymour, Presbyter of the Church of 
England, are still preserved. Popham's colony bore to our 
shores the revised Prayer Book of the reign of James I. The 
old words themselves, identical, unchanged, are accessible both 
in the few copies of the original editioii of 1604 in our public 
libraries, and in the reprint issued by Mr. William Pickering 
of London, a few years since. 

The words " preacher " and " sermon," employed by Strach- 
ey in his narrative, are indicative of the same facts, and are 
sustained by the recorded formularies and documents of that 
Church. In the " injunctions " of King Edward VL, A. D. 
1547, the whole body of the English Clergy of the Establish- 
ment is spoken of as " preachers." ^ In the record of Purchas, 
speaking of " true preachers," we find in the same relation, 
" every Sunday, sermons twice a day, and every Thursday, a 
sermon."^ Indeed, quotations might be multiplied to the 
largest extent, to prove the existence of these names and 
esteem for the men who bore the ofiice and did its duties, in 
the Church, which sent out Richard Seymour as the- first Prot- 
estant minister and missionary to our northern coasts of New 
England. 

1 Sparrow's Collection of Articles, p. 8, seij. 

2 In Anderson, vol. 1, pp. 216, 217. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 329 

FROM THE HON. MR. BANCROFT. 

The following letter would have been assigned an earlier place/ 
if it had been received at an earlier date. 

New York, June 13, 18G3. 

My Dear Sir : — I regret that it was not in my power to 
be present at the celebration of the landing of the first colony 
in Maine. I am very glad to find that the citizens of Maine 
are determined to set in a distinct light, the relation of that 
region to the general colonization of the country. It was the 
noble harbors along your coast which first raised the hope of 
planting a nation on your soil ; and the effort of Gorges was a 
sort of prophecy of the future commercial greatness of your 
State. 

I have not perhaps formed so high an idea of the importance 
of the essay at Fort Popham, as some others may have done ; 
but the charter under which it took place, was undoubtedly 
one of the means which reserved that part of New England, 
and indeed all New England, to the enterprise of Englishmen. 
I hope your historical students will not only renew attention 
to the various patents which covered their territory, but also 
be unremitting in their zeal to trace with distinctness the 
various places which successively became occupied by men of 
English descent. 

It is the fashion of the world to speak of all New England 
as if it were homogeneous ; and so in one sense it is ; but 
more careful discrimination will show marked points of differ- 
ence between the several New England States. To register 
these differences with impartiality, and to deduce them from 
their causes is the duty of the historian. 

Time sweeps away all the influences which have interfered 
with just and candid judgments. Now-a-days, it will be 

1 Ante, pp. 100, 232. 



330 MEMOEIAL VOLUME. 

admitted that the English Government did not sin against 
fairness, when it claimed that the Anglican Church should at 
least be tolerated in an English colony ; and had the advisers 
of the Stuarts demanded no more than equality, impartial his- 
tory must have qualified its censure of their tyranny. But it 
was with New England, as it was so often in the world's his- 
tory ; it needed intense suffering to induce the best men of 
England to exchange their native country for the wilderness ; 
and however interesting it is now to define the action of Eng- 
lish royalists in founding colonies, the great result was cer- 
tainly accomplished by men who were driven from their homes 
for conscience' sake. 

But the self-defending energy of the founders of Massachu- 
setts does not in the least degree take from the interest that 
attaches to the efforts at planting colonies in Maine ; and the 
country will look to your historical inquirers to persevere in 
collecting and analyzing all the facts which illustrate its origin, 
and so to explain the shades of difference that mark its 
character. I remain, my dear sir, 

Very faithfully yours, 

Geo. Bancroft. 



GOVERNOR WASHBURN. 

His Excellency, Israel Washburn, Jr., of Orono, Governor 
of Maine, accepted the invitation of the committee of arrange- 
ments, for the purpose of giving his assent in person, as the 
Chief Magistrate of the State, to the placing of the " Memorial 
Stone " in the walls of Fort Popliam. But the imperative 
calls of the Federal Government, at this trying moment in its 
history, upon his time and thoughts, in connection with mill- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 331 

taiy affairs, rendered it impossible for him to attend the com- 
memoration, consistently with his convictions of pnblic duty. 
At the last moment, therefore, he was compelled to devolve 
upon the Hon. Abner Coburn, soon to be his successor in 
office, the service assigned to the Governor, of which an account 
is given in the early part of the volume. ^ 

Governor Washburn has, however, at the request of the 
committee, favored them, for publication, with the notes of his 
speech as prepared for the occasion, which they are pleased to 
be able now to present. 

SPEECH OF GOVERNOR WASHBURN. 

We celebrate to-day, on the soil of Maine, and on the spot 
of the first settlement made by Englishmen in New England, 
and coincident with the first in America, an event the most 
significant and auspicious in the history of the continent, and 
of modern civilization. This occasion implies a retrospection 
and a prophecy. We shall l)ring before our minds the circum- 
stances of Popham's Colony ; its landing here, two hundred 
and fifty-five years ago ; its various fortunes and its fate ; the 
thought which created it ; its connection with, and its influence 
upon, the permanent occupation of the country by the Saxo- 
Norman race ; and the great and wise men. Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges and others, by whom it was originated and conducted. 
But our highest concern is with the future which it postulated ; 
with the principles of civil and religious liberty which it repre- 
sented ; for the final expression and embodiment of which, 
this continent, as I believe, had been reserved. 

The recorded object of Gorges, was to lay the foundations 
of a State, in which the rights of human nature should be ade- 
quately recognized, and the progress of mankind assured. 

1 Ante, p. 50. 



332 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

As stated in his oavii simple yet grand A^ords, his purpose was 
to promote " The enlargement op the Christlvn Faith, the 

SUPPORTATION OF JUSTICE AND LOVE OF PeACE." Not SO much 

for the protection and upbuilding of a religious party or sect, 
as for that freedom of thought in religious matters, which is 
the condition of a healthy and saving faith ; not for outward 
prosperity mainly, hut for equal and exact justice among men ; 
not that the ambitions and strifes of the old world should be 
repeated in the new, but that the reign of peace and good will 
might be established ; not for the transfer hither of old prin- 
ciples and policies, but for the development of what has come 
to be known throughout the world as the " American idea^'' 
did the illustrious founder of Maine give his fortune, his 
thoughts and his heart. And the plant which he caused to be 
set in our soil, has grown to the proportions of a noble tree. 
It blossomed in the Declaration of Independence, and its con- 
summate fruit is the American Union. 

It was a happy thought that suggested the commemoration 
of his great work at this time, that we, who have profited by 
it, might testify our appreciation of the noble objects for which 
it was begun, and our unshaken faith in the perpetuity of the 
Government established to promote them. For in this mad 
revolt of barbarism and violence against that government, it 
is well for us to come here that we may examine the founda- 
tions upon which it rests ; that we may consider how well it is 
worth preserving, and how recreant we sliall be if we permit 
it to be destroyed. 

And standing on this ground, fitly chosen of all spots from 
ocean to ocean, how clearly do we see that the old principles 
of Ingotry and intolerance, of despotism and oiDpression, of 
hatred and war, are not to prevail against the nobler, more 
catholic, more humane, more Christian ideas to which this 
continent was dedicated so long ago ; and that the government 
which represents them so well now, shall l^e preserved to be 



POPIIAM CELEBRATION. o-J-J 

tlieir fuller representative hereafter ; as under its protection 
and influence, " Christian Faith " shall be increased to the 
stature of that Charity which " casteth out fear ; " and " Jus- 
tice " shall be practiced more and more until oppression shall 
cease, and the last fetter be struck from the last slave in the 
land, and the " love of Peace," filling the hearts of men, shall 
herald the golden period foretold by our greatest poet, when 

" No longer from its brazen portals, 
The blast of war's great organ fills the skies ; 

But beautiful as songs of the immortals, 
The holy melodies of love arise! " 



FROM E. F. JOHNSON, ESQ., MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 

This letter was not received from the writer until too late for in- 
sertion in connection with the appropriate sentiment in its order ; 
which, being prolific in the materials for a speech or an essay, is 
here repeated ' as the proper introduction to the remarks which 
follow. 

Maritime Adventure and Discover^/, — illustrated by men of Bristol and the 
Severn ; whose Cabots and Gilberts pointed the way to the northern shores of 
the New World. The name of Raleigh Gilbert shall ever be honored, for his 
fidelity in conducting to these shores the Colony of Popham. 

Dear Sir : — Had it been possil^le for me to have attended 
your late celebration, on the anniversary of the founding of 
the first English Colony in New England, I could have con- 
tributed nothing to the interest of the occasion, so far as 
knowledge connected with that settlement was concerned. 

But the several expeditions which came to these shores at 

1 Ante, p. 111. 



334 MEMORIAL VOLUME. j 

tho close of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth 
centuries, wore a natural sequence to the fact of the prior 
numerous visitations to the Banks of Newfoundland for fishing 
purposes. 

That this continent was visited long anterior to this time by 
Europeans the evidence is now too strong to he questioned. 
The fleet that annually congregated in the Thames and other 
Britisli ports to convey grain to the continent in the time of 
the Eomans, is evidence that the art of navigation was then 
sufficiently advanced to justify the belief that a trans-atlantic 
voyage was practicable. It was indeed not only practicable, 
but it was possible to make it with less difficulty and danger, 
than was incurred in making the passage of Behring's Straits 
in such crafts and with such means as the natives of the east- 
ern coast of Asia were supposed to possess. 

We know that Iceland, which is an American island, was 
visited and ' settled by Europeans at a very early date. We 
know, also, that from the fourth to the seventh century, Chris- 
tianity and civilization had made great advances in Iceland ; 
and that from this time, and for a long period after, tlie British 
Isles were exposed to Scandinavian raids and invasions from 
the north ; and it is not unreasonable to infer, that during this 
period many expeditions may have left those islands and landed 
on the American coast never to return. 

The superior intelligence of those thus migrating would give 
them, in mingling with the natives, rank and importance. In- 
termarriages Avitli tho families of chieftains would be the con- 
sequence. Their children would inherit their honors, and to 
a certain degree their intelligence, and the result would be a 
marked dilTerence in the intelligence of the chieftains and 
their families compared with the natives generally. 

Indian history, so far as we have knowledge of it, confirms 
the superior intelligence of their chief men ; and the portraits 
of such of them as have come down to us, show, I think, un- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. • 835 

mistakably the European lineaments. The mounds in the 
valley of the Mississippi afford important evidence in support 
of tliis hypothesis. 

These mounds, as they appear in northern Wisconsin, are 
very rude and imperfect in form compared with those in the 
valley of the Ohio. The latter possess a magnitude and ac- 
curacy of outline which indicates such a knowledge of Geom- 
etry as might have been communicated Ijy the early navigators 
in question. 

This reasonable supposition may be said to be confirmed as 
truth by the discovery of the stone tablets in the mounds of 
" Grave Creek," in western Virginia, having inscriptions in the 
old Celtic and Manks characters ; mounds upon which trees 
of six hundred to seven hundred years old were found growing 
on the first settlement of the country. 

In the center of the largest of these mounds at Gfave Creek, 
which was seventy feet high and over three hundred feet in 
circumference, was found the smaller of the two tablets and a 
human skull, which answers well to that of a European. These 
inscriptions have recently been deciphered, and prove, beyond 
a doubt, that the bodies there deposited once spoke the lan- 
guage of the British Isles. The translation of these inscrip- 
tions, which have been made Ijy a friend at my request, I will 
endeavor to procure for you, if you desire it, in time for in- 
sertion in the published proceedings of your celebration. 

The question will naturally be asked. Why, if all that I have 
stated is true, was there not some traditional knowledge of it 
in possession of the Indians ? The answer is this, that from 
the twelfth century to the voyage of Columbus in 1492, inter- 
course between the continents was probably wholly suspended, 
and in that period the knowledge of the early visitations had 
faded from the Indian mind, as had also the European com- 
plexion from their bodies. 

That this is a very proper couclusion is proved by the fact, 



336 • MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

that traditionary knowledge, unsupported by a written lan- 
guage, is unreliable after a few generations. A writer, who • 
lately visited the Auracanian Indians in South America, a peo- 
ple whose ancestors fought the Spaniards in many pitched and 
bloody battles and were never subdued, states that those In- 
dians have, at the present time, no traditionary knowledge of 
those battles ; and this knowledge would have passed into ob- 
livion had it not been preserved in Spanish history. 

The researches of antiquarians and others, during the last 
thirty years, tend very clearly to establish the fact of the early 
visits of the so called Papaa and of the Norsemen to this con- 
tinent, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that Columbus 
derived, on his visit to Iceland, certain evidence of our Atlantic 
coast, which he supposed to be the eastern coast of Cathay, ^ 
and of its general direction, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. 

Preparatory to his voyage thither, he had gone to the north- 
ern shores of Europe and sought out the results of the daring 
sea expeditions of the Danes and Norwegians. With the ruling 
desire to learn all that had been known of the Atlantic waters, 
he would not be likely to omit to visit the most eligible point 
in the British Isles for obtaining a knowledge of what had been 
more recently done or learned in relation to discoveries in the 
western seas ; and hence the city of Bristol and the waters of 
the Severn would receive from him particular attention. 

Bristol was at that time the principal seat iipon the Atlantic 
for maritime adventure and enterprise ; and it was from thence 
that John Cabot sailed in 1497, and Sebastian Cabot in 1798 ; 
the former reaching this continent on the coast of Labrador in 
June, 1497, and the latter the coast of Maryland in 1799. 

Lord Bacon, in his life of Henry VIL, says: "And there 
had been before that time a discovery of some lands which 
they took to be islands, and were indeed the continent of Amer- 
ica to the northwest." 

1 China and Japan. Ante, p. 221. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 337 

This " discovery of some lands " had reference, evidently to 
voyages prior to those made by the Cabots. The voyages of 
the latter, made in the years named, resulted in the re-discov- 
ery or confirmation of what was prol)aljly previously known in 
respect to the northern portion of this continent. 

The discovery liy Columbus was at a later date. He accom- 
plished no more on his first visit to San Salvador than did Na- 
dod when he discovered Iceland in A. D. 8G0 ; nor as much 
as was effected by those who founded a colony on the same 
island in 874 ; or as did Eric the Red, when he discovered and 
founded a colony in Greenland in A. D. 982. 

' Columbus landed in 1492 on the island of San Salvador, but 
did not see the continent until his second voyage several years 
later, after the Caljots had actually set foot upon it at two dif- 
ferent and distant points, and explored much of its coast. San 
Salvador and Iceland are Ijotli American islands, the former 
being farther from the main land than the latter from Green- 
land. Hence the credit of the discovery of the American con- 
tinent cannot with propriety be given to Columbus. It must 
: be given either to John Cabot or the Norsemen who preceded 
I him. 

That Columbus is entitled to very great credit for enterprise 

i and an indomitable perseverance, all must admit ; but neither 

i his discoveries or the difficulties he surmounted should be un- 

I duly magnified at the expense of truth or the just claims of 

others equally deserving. 

In his journal of his visit to Iceland, prior to his voyage 

I made in 1492, he distinctly states that he sailed three hundred 

I miles to the north of that island ; which distance, as we now 

I understand the Geography of that region, would bring him in 

I close proximity to the coast of Greenland, near Cape Brewster. 

I This view receives support from the fact of the readiness with 

j which ho pledged himself to his mutinous crew to return to 



338 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Spain if he did not find land within three days. This does not 
detract from his great merit in being the first to traverse the 
widest and previously unexplored portion of the Atlantic, and 
as the leader of an expedition, which only his superior intelli- 
gence and indomitable perseverance could have organized at 
that period of the world. 

It may be asked, why, if all that is here suggested is true, 
there are not to be found in Iceland and elsewhere, records 
more complete and authentic than the meager collections al- 
ready made of the first visits of the Norse navigators to this 
continent ? The absence of such records will cause less sur- 
prise when it is remembered, that records of that description, 
at that period, were made and kept by persons who had an in- 
terest in maintaining the claim of the head of the Iloman 
Church to the ownership of all lands discovered by Columbus. 
At that day the doctrine that " the end justified the means," 
was boldly avowed by the highest ecclesiastical authority ; and 
the search, should one be made for the desired evidence, if that 
evidence still exists, will be quite as likely to be crowned with 
success, if made in the cloisters and convents of Spain and 
Italy, as if made in Iceland or the British islands. 

Columbus, in his journal of his voyage to Iceland, speaks of 
the trade carried on with that island by the merchants of Bris- 
tol. I have stated my conviction of the value of the informa- 
tion which he nmst have derived from the English navigators 
who frequented the waters of the Severn. In those waters, it 
may be said, was cradled the maritime policy and power of 
England ; and there is paid no more than a just tribute to the 
memory of the Cabots and the Gilljerts in the sentiment, in 
which they are so honorably mentioned, and which connects 
the name of the latter with Popham and the Sagadahoc. 
They were, indeed, bright stars in the galaxy of nautical skill 
and enterprise, which has shed its luster upon the British Isles 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 339 

from their first appearance in liistor}-, and wliicli, for many 
centuries, has placed England in the front rank of European 
civilization. 

Yours respectfully, 

Edwin F. Johnson. 
Middletoimi^ Conn., June, 1863. 



THE LOST AUGUSTA. 
BY Pt. K. SEWALL, ESQ., OF WISCASSET. 

At the request of the committee, while this volume was pass- 
ing through the press, an account of a once thriving town 
within the limits of the " Province of Sabino," has been 
cheerfully prepared by the historian of the " Ancient Dominions 
of Maine." It is here presented to the reader. 

Between the city of Bath and the town of Brunswick, an 
arm of the sea pushes up and in toward Merrymeeting Bay, 
called " New Meadows River," tlie upper portion of which was 
the ancient " Stevens River," on the margin of which an Indian 
truck-master or trader of this name, had his station ; and near 
which in later years a canal, eight feet wide and deep enough 
to float lumlier ^ to the sea, opened into the waters of the 
Kennebec, one and a half miles distant, at or near the ancient 
dwelling-place of Thomas Purchas, an early settler on this part 
of the river. ^ The remains of this canal are yet traceable. 

^ Williamson, vol. 1, p. 47. In'some places " thirty feet wide." — Id. p. 33. 

- Williamson, vol. 1, p. 2G6. On the Kennebec the outlet through Whisby Creek 
was near the ix-sidence of Christopher Lawson, the first settler on that part of 
the river. [Old Map in Pejepscot Papers.] 



840' MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

Tlie point around wliicli the " Stevens and New Meadows 
River " join the waters of Casco Bay, and enter the sea by- 
way of Sagadahoc Beach, is termed " Cape Small Point ; " 
which, terminating the Peninsula of Phipsburg on the west 
and south, is broken into sundry headlands and rocky islets, 
indentations and eminences, where the tides of " Casco" and 
" New Meadows " embrace each other in pools of deep shel- 
tered waters, forming a small but convenient harbor, beliind 
the islets and under the headlands of the cape. The Penin- 
sula of Phipsburg, from Avhich, on its eastern shore, the famous 
" Peninsula of Sabino " strikes out into the sea as a lateral 
spur, — Sagadahoc Island of the ancients forming its promi- 
nent feature, — makes what is now known as " Small Point 
Harboe," some three miles distant from the margins of " At- 
kins Bay," southwesterly. 

JOHN Parker's ownership. 

Mohotiwormet, or " Robin-Hood," ^ the great Sachem 

June 14, of Nequasset, in consideration " of one Beaver skin 

A. D. and a yearly rent of one bushel of corn," and a 

1659. " quart of liquor,^^ to be unto him paid, or to his 

heirs forever, by John Parker, at or before the 25th 
day of December, being Christmas day, at the dwelling-house 
of the said Parker, " let, set and sold " out to the said John 
Parker the aforesaid peninsula, including the site of " Small 
Point Harbor ; " but Mdiicli was then known only as " Parker's 
Plantation," within the jurisdiction of " Sebenoa," the ancient 
Lord of Sagadahoc- 

1 Mss. Indenture, Robiii-IIood to Parker. 

2 Strachey quoted in Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 90. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 341 

FRANCIS small's TRADING-POST. 

Francis Small, an Indian trader, owned and occupied 
the lands at the month of New Meadows River ; and A. D. 
from this man's relations to this point, the locality ob- 1664. 
viously derived its existing name, and which the said 
" Small " must have held under Parker, who, by certain stipu- 
lations with " Richard Wharton," in the reign of Charles II., 
A, D. 1684, engaged to " settle a toivn on the premises,^^ as 
well as pay an annual quit rent of " two dried cusk, or two 
cod-fish,'" if demanded by the said Wharton or his heirs, as the 
conditions of peaceal)le and quiet possession of his purchase of 
Robin Hood, to himself, his heirs and assigns. The indenture 
recites as an additional consideration in the premises, that the 
said " John Parker v;as the first of the English nation that be- 
gan to subdue the land there and undertook the fishing trade ; " 
and the town to be settled was required (as a further condition 
of title in homesteads) " to submit its regulations and affairs 
to such persons as the major part of the free-holders or inhabi- 
tants shoidd annually choose^ ^ Thus were laid the founda- 
tions of a commercial depot at the mouth of New Meadows, for 
the trade of the interior waters of the Androscoggin and Ken- 
nebec. 

DEATH OF .JOHN PARKER, 

But tlic ruthless savage soon invaded the peaceful homes of 
these enterprising frontiers-men, and the torch of barbarian 
hordes, preceded by the horrors of the tomahawk and scalping 
knife, forced all to fly. John Parker and his son James 
reached " Casco ^ Bay," (now Portland,) and were there 

^ Wharton's Mss. papers, Indeuture to Joliii Parker. 
2 Ancient "Aucocisco." 



342 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

slain 1 at the taking of the Fort Loyal, 20th of May, 1690, 
when Falmouth was sacked by the French and Indians. 

REVIVAL OF SETTLEMENTS. 

The peace, a result of the treaty at Portsmouth, the 
A. D. 13th of July, so far restored confidence, that the re- 
1713. settlement of the " eastern frontiers," in the occupa- 
tion of the depopulated plantations, began with marked 
promise and unusual energy. The titles of the former inhabi- 
tants, by purchase and inheritance, in many cases had passed 
into fresh hands. The Parker estate changed possessors. 

The estate of the ancient Thomas Purchas, near the head 
of Stevens River, and its improvements, together with that of 
John Parker, on the Peninsula of Phipsburg, became the prop- 
erty of Richard Wharton's assigns. Although the Plymouth 
Company first located on the site of Fort George in the Prov- 
ince of Sabino, where the Popham Colony^ had landed, suppos- 
ing and intending it to be embraced in their purchase at Ken- 
nebec, the subsequent removal of their trading station to 
" Cushnoc," (Augusta, the site of the present capital of Maine,) 
and the determination of their rights at law, limiting their 
boundaries on the south above Merrj^neeting Bay, admitted 
the rights of the Pejepscot proprietors, under the titles of 
Wharton, to the settlements of John Parker and his assigns. 

Belcher Noyes, of Boston, ^ a physician, and secretary, or 
clerk, of the Pejepscot Company, became interested in the 
Parker estate, and located himself at Small Point Harbor, and 
concentrated his means and energies to the execution of Whar- 
ton's designs, in reviving the town attempted by Parker and 
Davis prior to the catastrophe of the late war. The Pejepscot 

1 Deposition, Mss. John Pliilips, Williamson, vol. 1, page G21. 

2 Williamson, vol. 1, p. 52. Ante, 108, 109. 

3 Mss. Certificate, John Parker's Deed. 



POPIIAM CELEBRATION. 343 

Company sanctioned the effort, as coming within the limits of 
their jurisdiction ; and at a meeting of the Proprietors, May 
24, 1716, passed a vote " that there be a Town laid out at 
Small Point Harbour." At the same time fifty acres of land 
were granted to each of the first fifty families, who should 
build a house and occupy it for three years. A town-meeting 
was held for action under this vote, " Augusta, Nov'r 61^, 
1717." 

The trading post of Francis Small, at the cape harbor at the 
mouth of New Meadows River, the opening of the direct trade 
with Merry-meeting and the Kennebec at the sea, was re-occu- 
pied. Capt. John Penhallow, — the military leader of the 
inhabitants, — took up his residence here with Dr. Noyes ; 
and to Mr. Mountfort was set off and assigned within that 
town two hundred and fifty acres of land, adjoining Dr. Noyes' 
harbor farms ; ^ and the newly revived town was called " Au- 
gusta," which now arose to adorn the margins of Casco Bay, 
at the mouth of New Meadows River, in the present town of 
Phipsburg. Emigration was stimulated ; the Halls, the Springs, 
the Rideouts, and the Owens, were landed here from the west- 
ern emigration ; two streets were laid out on which the house lots 
abutted ; a road eight rods wide was opened to the Sagadahoc 
from "Augusta Harbor;" and Edmund Mountfort^ who 
acted as clerk of " the Inhabitants of Augusta," was author- 
ized to lay out farms of ninety-five acres each for the settlers 
newly arrived ; " Lots," seventy to one hundred feet wide were 
surveyed and laid out at the harbor ; ^ and a cart-way was cut 
across the Peninsula of Phipsburg opposite "Arrowsic." A 
stone fort was also reared, — esteemed the best military de- 

1 Ancient Dominions of Maine, pp. '225-G. 

2 N. H. Historical Collections. Pejepscot RecorcLs, vol. 1, p. 113. 

■ 3 A special grant of land was made to " Benj* Purrington " because "his 
wife was of fornardness in promoting said settlement." Pejepscot Record.?, 
vol. 1, p. 97. 



344 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

fense in the east, — and maintained ^ at the public cost. The 
sloop " Pejepscot " regularly plied l)ctween Boston and the 
"Augusta" of the ancients ;2 foreign commerce here started, 
and it became the j)oint of an export trade for vast quantities 
of pipe staves, boards, plank, and timber ; agriculture also 
throve ; and the fisheries were re-established by Dr. Noyes, in 
which some twenty vessels were by him engaged, — particii- 
larly the sturgeon fishery near Brunswick which, nearly a 
century before, had been carried on by Thomas Purchas, and 
many thousand kegs cured for export every season. Fine 
buildings were erected ; saw mills put uj^ ; a convenient man- 
sion-house was built ; lots for a " Meeting House and Burying 
place " "^ were set apart for public use. 

To carry out the intention of increasing the settlement, an 
agreement, signed and sealed by the leaders in the enterprise, 
was made March 7, 1719, with " the Rev. James Hillliousc of 
Boston, New England," to grant him six hundred acres of un- 
inhabited land in two lots, to be chosen in Topsham, Bruns- 
wick, or Augusta, each lot having a frontage of half an Eng- 
lish mile on navigable water, in consideration of his going to 
Ireland to induce settlers to remove to these new towns. The 
allotment was to be made after his return ; and if he settled 
in any of these three places himself, ho was promised suitable 
encouragement. ' 

Such were the site and prospects of the Augusta of the an- 
cients, which, by the energy and skill of its founders, had con- 
trived to concentrate the trade of the Kennebec and Andro- 
scoggin at Small Point Harbor, as the nursery of the new town 
aspiring to the honors of commercial eminence. 

1 Penhallow, p. 88. 

2 Ancient Dominions of Maine, p. 225' 

3 Augusta Town Records. 

4 Penhallow says that a minister was supported in these eastern towns by tbe 
Pejepscot Company, p. 88. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 345 

But the desolations of savage warfare ^ against wliicli Pen- 
hallow had been a leader, subsequently swept over this fair and 
promising establishment. The fort for a while was kept at 
])ul)lic cost. But it was afterwards neglected by the govern- 
ment, and the inhabitants, unprotected by military force 
within its shelter, withdrew from the settlement, and left all 
to the Indians, who burnt the combustible part of the struc- 
ture, and with it several houses. Thus its fisheries were broken 
up ; its inhabitants scattered ; its fort ruined ; and its trade 
destroyed. The benefits of an inland water-way, devised, 
completed, and used in years long after, from Casco Bay as 
an outlet to the resources of the interior waters of the mighty 
Kennebec, would have added to its prosperity and wealth, if 
it had been protected or left undisturbed by the onsets of the 
savages. Its reminiscences even, are buried under its ruins, 
now overgrown and nearly ' lost amid the decay of almost a 
century and a half. - 

The importance of this ancient town to one of the most fer- 
tile and populous sections of Maine, had it survived to this 
day, can hardly be estimated. In all probability, it would 
have rivalled both Bath and Portland, in extent of facilities for 
trade and commerce. The location of the ancient " Augusta " ^ 
was most eligible for commercial enterprise ; and had it re- 
mained in its incipient prosperity, until the Merry-meeting 
waters, by navigable communication with the sea by the way 
of Stevens River, had been laid open, a city of important 
relations and extent would now, doubtless, have distinguished 
this early appreciated spot, as a center of trade to the Andro- 
scoggin and Kennebec valleys, of which Brunswick would 
have been- the great interior depot. 

1 The " Four Years' War," beginning 1722. — Williamson, vol. 2, pp. Ill, 119. 
- Ancient Dominions of IMaine, p; 225. 

•^ The knowledge of this lost town was recovered by Ihc investigations of the 
late John McKecn, Esq. 



346 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

The following addition is to be made to Mr. SewalFs communica- 
tion, under the caption, " Pemaquid," on page 143, and at the end 
of the first sentence, after the words " probably Pemaquid." 

The " Gift of God " was the Popliam ship. The writer of 
" Ancient Pemaquid " tells us that Capt. John Smith, — who 
visited Sagadahoc in 1614, six years after the abandonment of 
the Peninsula of Sabino by the London men under Raleigh 
Gilbert, — projected a map from point to point and harbor to 
harbor, as he had coasted along shore. " This map he pre- 
sented to Prince Charles, who gave Pemaquid the name of 
' John's town,' and to Monhegan, ' Barties' Isles.' " ^ It is 
ol»vious, therefore, that at this date the Peninsula of Pemaquid 
exhibited such rudiments of English occupancy, or had grown 
into a fair English toitm of such extent and importance as to 
entitle it to receive, by Royal donation, an English 7iame and 
place on the charts of English authority ! 

Tlie " St. John's town" of Pemaquid must, therefore, have 
been nearly cotemporaneous with the " Georgetown " of Sa- 
bino and the Popham colony ; and there cannot be a reasonable 
doubt, that both had a common origin from the Popham enter- 
prise ; and that this " St. John's town " of Pemaquid, as found 
and described by Capt. Smith, was a fruit of Sir John Pop- 
ham's colonial adventure at Sagadahoc. 



REV. MR. NORWOOD'S SERMON. 



On the Sunday following this celebration, the Rev. Francis Nor-ail 
wood, the Congregational minister of Phipsburg, "the ancient Sa- i 
bino," — within the limits of which town the celebration was held,— 
preached a sermon, having special reference to the occurrence. The i 

1 Ancient Pemaquid in Me. H. C, p. 162. 3d Series Mass. H. C, vol. 6, pp. 
97, 105. May not this name, " St. John's town," be the origin of the " James- 
town " of a later period, which appears in the annals of Pemaquid 1 The 
John's River may have derived its name from this early gift. 



POPHAM CELEBPvATION. 34:7 

following extract from this discourse is worthy of being reproduced 
in this volume ; as well to show the kindly feelings of the author 
towards the Episcopal Church, as the reasons why the services of 
that Church should have been used on the occasion. 

EXTRACT FROM SERMON. 

'■' The day was indeed auspicious, the assemblage vast, the 
: scene imposing. But why this grand preparation and splendid 
[ array? It was to commemorate a historic fact; viz., the set- 
1 tlement on this spot of an English colony under George Pop- 
ij ham, in August, 1607. Certainly this was a mcmoraljle event, 
: that should lie known, cherished and transmitted to posterity. 
And it was natural that the Episcopal Church should lead in 
; this commemoration, since the colony was planted under their 
j auspices ; and on their first landing, as was most appropriate, 
; worsliip was conducted according to the forms and rites of that 
; Church. 

i I venerate this ancient Christian Church ; the good and 
learned men wdio have ministered at its altars ; who have vin- 
; dicated God's word against Romish assumptions and despo- 
: tism ; and who, ])y the light of holy doctrine and example, 
: have guided thousands on in the path to glory. I subscribe to 
Ithe Apostles' Creed embodied in its Liturgy; to its Thirty- 
jNine Articles, with slight exceptions ; and especially and em- 
phatically to that one which declares that "Holy Scripture 
containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever 
is not read therein, nor may be proved thcrel»y, is not to l)e 
required of any man, that it should be believed as an article 
of the faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." 
lAnd I rejoice in the present prosperity of that Church in the 
[old world and new ; and pray God, that, divested of all error 
Jin doctrine and i)ractice, she may live on for ages to bless the 
*world." 



348 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

SIIIP-BUILDING IN THE DISTRICT OF BATH. 

The following statement has been made in reply to the request 
of the Chairman of the Executive Committee, and should be con- 
nected with the remarks made on page 155. 

Custom House, Bath, ) 
•June 9, 1863. \ 

Statement of number of vessels l)uilt in the District of Bath, 
from January 1, 1832 to January 1, 1862, and amount of ton- 
nage of the same : 

Number of vessels, _ _ _ _ 1170. 

Tonnage, ------ 505,293 tons. 

Roland Fisher, Collector. 



II Y M N ; 
BY THE REV. DR. AVHEELER, OF TOPSHAM. 

The following Hymn, written with reference to the celebration, 
and given for this publication at the request of the Editor, is here 
inserted, as an appropriate termination to the various communica- 
tions appearing in this volume. 

I. 

God of the firm and solid land ! 

God of the deep and restless sea ! 
Here, on this wild, surf-beaten strand. 

We raise our willing thoughts to Thee. 

II. 

Where once the wily red man stood, 

AVhere oft he dipped the plashing oar ; , 

By river's brink, and briny flood, 
AVe bow before Thee, and adore. 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 349 

III. 

Where men of wit, and men of toil. 

And Christian heroes, brave and true, 
First planted on New England's soil 

The sturdy stock from which we grew, — 

IV. 

Where fifct the song of praise was heard. 

And first the solemn voice of prayer • 
And first the reconciling word 

Was borne upon the summer air, 

V. 

And where the first low grave was made 

Beneath New England's wintry snows ; 
And the first Christian relics laid, 

To slumber in their long repose ; 

VI. 

We meet and bend the knee to day ; 

Those early times bring back to view : 
We sing again the sacred lay, 

Again those ancient rites renew. 

VII. 

Lord ! Hear us in this solemn hour ; 

Accept our thanks for mercies given • 
Dispel the storms that darkly lower, 

And be our Guide to peace and Heaven. 



It IS proper to add, as supplying an omission, that in the 
closing exercises at the Fort, after the address, the doxology 

" From all that dwell below the skies," 

was sung by the assemblage, before the Benediction. 



ADDENDA 



It will be noticed, that the papers appearing in this Toliirae 
relate to other subjects than the first English settlement on 
the wild shores of New England. The celebration had another 
purpose added to the memory of this leading event : that of 
awakening in the citizens of Maine an interest in historical 
research within our own territory. Reasons there may have 
been Avliy, except in rare instances, these studies have not 
received the attention that might well be claimed for this 
State ; which, while nearest of the States in position to the 
Mother Country, was among the first to be occupied by her 
colonists ; furnishing a field for explorers and men of enter- 
prise in commercial pursuits, and beholding the first blood 
shed on her soil in the long contest for supremacy with France. 
It can now hardly be doubted that the acquaintance with this 
North Eastern Shore, and the occupancy of its land and waters 
by the perseverance of English navigators and settlers, had a 
special influence, permanently acting on the settlements farther 
west, — protected as they were by the charter, procured by the 
labors of Gorges, for the region then known as North Virginia. 
As auxiliary to the true understanding of this influence, useful 
study might be expended on the character, purposes, and mo- 



POPHAM CELEBRATION. 351 

tives of the men, who were prominent in counsel and action, 
for exploring tlie coast and in its occupation. 

The State of Maine has not yet had lier true position in tlie 
written history of our nation ; and the researches of her sons 
are needed to bring to light full information as to her claims, 
now locked up in archives, or perpetuated in unwritten tradi- 
tions. Every year is adding to the results of investigations, 
already commenced ; and as they proceed under the auspices of 
the Historical Society, local celeljrations, and the Histories of 
Towns, erroneous impressions will be corrected, and true ones 
produced out of these recovered events of the past. 

It has not been the purpose of the directors of this celelira- 
tion to detract from the merits of the earlier settlement at 
Jamestown, or the later one at Plymouth. Each has its own 
history, as has also the first settlement in Maine, made from 
the same nation. The leading desire in promoting its com- 
memoration, was to bring to view facts not generally known, 
and to excite inquiry into the treasures of the past. The 
result of this gathering will be most cheering, if it become the 
starting point of new labors in the department of our own 
history. The act of tlie Legislature of the State in granting 
funds to procure papers of importance from the English 
archives, which have been beyond reach until the present day, 
will be of great aid in showing the value and effects of the 
early occupation and civilization of this portion of the hemis- 
phere. It was a generous act of that body, representing the 
interests of the State, thus nobly sustaining the efforts of her 
citizens to develope her own historical resources. 

In the retrospect of these facts and considerations, we have 
learned to say that Maine lias her Epoch and her Gathering- 
Place, which untoward circumstances have lieretofore kept 
concealed from her own observation. When the true Ijcarings 



352 MEMORIAL VOLUME. 

of the commemorated event are properly applied and rightly 
appreciated, it will be seen to have had no small directing 
influence on subsequent efforts for settlements, under the 
guidance of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the great Patron of 
Colonization on the Shores of New England. 



APPENDIX 



NOTE A. 



To enable those not familiar with the localities of Sabino, to understand 
the allusions made to them, a map and a brief description are given. 

The Sagadahoc river, so famous in the early history of* the country, is 
formed by the junction of two large rivers, the Androscoggin and the Ken- 
nebec, at Merrymceting Bay,* twenty-five miles from the sea, from which 
junction the Sagadahoc is a deep estuary of very irregular width, often con- 
tracted Into narrow limits, but carrying a large volume of water to the 
ocean. 

At its mouth, between Stage Island on the eastern shore, and the lower 
end of the Peninsula of Sabino on the west, it is" about a mile and a half in 
width. One mile above this, is its narrowest point, where the north-east 
point of the Sabino Peninsula projects far out into the channel, nearly op- 
posite which point, only a few rods higher up the river, the lower end of a 
sharp rocky isle, called Long Island, narrows the main channel to less than 
a third of a mile. There is no navigable passage on the eastern side of this 
island. This outermost north-eastern point of the Sabino Peninsula is the 
site of Fort Popham. It was occupied by a small fort in the war of 1812. 
Above this point opens out Adkins Baj^, extending south-west for a mile or 
more, where formerly it evidently connected with the ocean. In De Barre's 
chart, made for the British government between 1764 and 1774, it is laid 
down as flats, subject to the overflow of the tide, between this Bay and the 
ocean. At the present time, there is enough of earth formed by action of 
the sea, to afford a good road-bed, free from overflow, connecting Sabino 
with the mainland. 

From Merrymceting Bay south to the ocean, there is a constant succes- 
sion of narrows, formed by high, sharp, projecting points of rock, alternat- 
ing into broad reaches or bays. A reach of some miles in front of the city 
of Bath, varying from one half to a mile in width, having abundant depth of 
water, forms one of the noblest landlocked harbors in the world, when the 
river turns, first east, at right angles, then again south, between high, rocky 
shores, with great depths of water. Nothing can be more beautiful or pic- 
turesque than the sail between Merrymceting Bay and the sea. 

As you descend towards the mouth of the river, the Island of Seguin, a 
high, rounded, rocky ridge, rising one hundred and forty feet above the sea- 
level, stands directly in front, apparently closing the mouth of the river, 
though three miles distant from it, clothed with a native growth of ever- 
green to its summit. Above this, rises a first-class lighthouse, holding in its 
spacious iron lantern a Fresnel lens of the largest size, seen for more than 
twenty miles at sea, and for a very great distance from the high lands of the 
interior. 

The Peninsula of Sabino is the outer point of the mainland, on the right 

* Marimitin. See Father Dreuilletts' Journal of an EmTiassy from Canada to 
New-England, in 1650, published from a translation of .John G. Shea, with valuable 
notes, in" the Collections of the New-York Historical Society, 1857, vol. iii. Second 
Series, part i. page 303. The country was then occupied from Cushnoc (Augusta) to 
Merrymeeting Bay. 



354 APPENDIX. 

or west bank of the river, three miles from Seguin. It is very nearly an ir- 
regular triangle in shape, its shortest line fronting the Sagadahoc — the other 
two side-lines formed, one by Adkins Bay, and the other by the ocean, It 
rises into two rocky ridges, Ijnng nearly east and west of each other, with 
a deep depression running north and south the bulk of the land, lying west of 
it, where it rises from two to three hundred feet into two considerable peaks 
in a ridge running north and south. In the valley, or narrow depression 
running north and south, the land is free from stones, and the soil is made 
up chielly of sand. Toward its southern end there is a beautifully clear 
lake or pond of fresh water sufficient for the wants of the Peninsula. The 
level of this lake is only about thirty or forty feet above the sea, and is said 
at times to be reached by the flashing spray which is dashed with pro- 
digious force at times upon this rocky shore. 

Near the shore of Adkins Bay is a spring of water half a mile from the site 
of Fort Popham, near which, are remains of ancient habitations ; and those 
who have explored the localities profess their belief that the principal fort 
was in the " vicinity of this spring." There is an old gentleman still living, 
more than ninety years of age, who was present at the celebration, who tes- 
tifies to the ploughing across a covered way between the ruins of an old fort 
and this spring of water, in his early days. 

The whole Peninsula was , originally covered with a forest growth,* and 
materials would have been abundant for the building of houses and a stock- 
ade fort. 

As to the probable site of their fort, that must depend upon the purpose of 
its construction. If an European foe, Spaniard or French, was dreaded, the 
site of the present fort would naturally be chosen. If, on the other hand, the 
enemy they feared was the Indian, they would naturally select a spot conve- 
nient to fresh water, where they could best guard the approach of the foe, 
coming across the neck, that alone connected the peninsula with the main. 
The site pointed out as that of their fort, would, in that view of the case, be at 
once determined on the southern shoi'e of Adkins Bay, near to the neck, 
in the vicinity of this spring. 

No one can fail to perceive the wonderful foresight of the men who selected 
this spot for their plantation. Easily approached at all times by water, 
capable of being defended at all points, those in possession of this peninsula 
hold complete control of the country and the rivers above, one of the finest 
agricultural districts in New-England. It was also the finest river for fish 
on the coast. When the Pilgrims of Plymouth were considering the ques- 
tion of abandoning their home, from the poverty of the soil and the want of 
means of subsistence, Sir Perdinando Gorges gave them a valuable tract of 
land on the Kennebec in 1629, at the time he established their boundaries 
at Plj^mouth, which they farmed out to advantage, deriving thence, and from 
the fisheries their chief means of support. The facts stated by Father 
Dreuilletts, at the time of his visit in 1650 and 1651, are of great historic 
interest. 

At the time of the celebration, the level floor or parade of the fort was 
occupied by the large assemblage of people. A platform facing east, over- 
looked the fort and the Sagadahoc river,- resting for its background against 
the end of theflarge shed occupied for dressing stone. This platform was 
occupied by the distinguished guests from abroad, the members of the His- 
torical Society, the Masonic fraternity, and those taking part in the celebra- 
tion. The various steamers and barges in attendance, the United States 
revenue cutter, and a large fleet of smaller craft, all gaily dressed in flags, 
lay at anchor in Adkins Bay. A strong tidal current swept past the fort, 
aided by a stiff north-west wind. The speaker's stand commanided a com« 
plete view of all the localities alluded to. 



APPENDIX. 355 



NOTE C. 



THE SETTLEMENT OF MAINE EY GOVEKIfOR GEOEGB 
POPHAM, AUGUST, 1607. vriuwauJU 

Before the Mayflower's lonely sail 

Our northeru billows spanned, 
And left on Plymouth's ice-bound rock 

A sad-eyed pilgrim band; 

Ere scarce Virginia's forest proud 

The earliest woodman hewed, 
Or gray Powhatan's wondering eves 

The pale-browed strangers viewed ; 

The noble Popham's fearless prow 

Essayed adventurous deed ; 
He cast upon New-England's coast 

The first colonial seed ; 

And bade the holy dews of prayer 

Baptize a heathen sod ; 
And 'mid the groves a church arose 

Unto the Christian's God. 

And here, on Sabine's green marge, 

He closed his mortal trust. 
And gave this savage-peopled world 

Its first rich Saxon dust. 

So, where beneath the drifted snows 

He took his latest sleep, 
A faithful sentinel of stone 

Due watch and ward shall keep ; 

A lofty fort, to men unborn, 

In thunder speak his name. 
And Maine, amid her thousand hills, 
New-England's founder claim. L. H. SiGOUENKft 

Habtipord, Ct., Sept. 3, 1862. yu«r«fi* 



LE SIEUE DE CHAMPLAIIT. 

Onward o'er waters which no keel had trod, 

No plummet sounded in their depths below, 
No heaving anchor grappled to the sod 

Where flowers of ocean in seclusion glow ; 
From isle to isle, from coast to coast he prest 

With patient zeal and chivalry sublime, 
Folding o'er Terra Incognita's breast 

The lilied vassalage of Gallia's clime. 
Though Henry of Navarre's profound mistake 

Montcalm must expiate and France regret ; 
Yet yonder tranquil and heaven-mirrored lake, 

Like diamond in a marge of emerald set, 
Bears on its freshening wave, from shore to shore 
The baptism of his name till time shall be no more 
Hamford, Ct., Oct. 1, 1862. L. Hpnxlet SiaoiTRNiT, 



356 APPENDIX. 

SIR FEEDINANDO GOHGES. 

Hot 'mid Ambition's sterner sons, inspired witli restless rage, 
Whose wreaths of laurel stain with blood the snow of History's page, 
Nor 'mid those sordid hordes who wrap their souls in cloth of gold, 
And smother every generous aim in that Laoeoon fold ; 
But with the men whom age on age complacently shall view 
Unostentatious in their course, and like the pole-star true, 
Who nobly plan, and boldly aid the welfare of their race — 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges' name shall find an honored place. 

On the new Western Continent, his earnest eye was bent, 

Nor rising cloud, nor rolling storm obscui-ed his large intent ; 

Though Kaleigh, that chivalrous friend, upon the scaflfbld bled, 

And many an unexpected foe \ipreared the hydra head ; 

Though adverse fortune ruled, and loss his flowing -coifers drained, 

And monarchs vacillated sore, and parliaments complained ; 

Yet with a persevering zeal that no defeat impaired. 

When others failed, he onward pressed — where others shrank, he dared. 

Then colonizing ships went down beneath the engulfing main, 

Or on their cargoes fiercely fed the pirate power of Spain, 

And homeward from their rude abodes the baffled planters steer, 

Discouraged at the hardships dire that vex the pioneer ; 

The wily Aboi-igines* his prolfered kindness grieved. 

And the great Bashaba himself all Christian trust deceived : 

Still as the beacon rises brave o'er desolation's flood 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges, firm in faith's endurance stood. 

He ne'er beheld New-England's face that woke such life-long toil. 
Nor traversed with exploring foot his own manorial soil. 
Nor gazed upon those crested hills where misty shadows glide, 
Nor heard her thundering rivers rush to swell old ocean's tide, 
Nor like the seer on Pisgah's clifi^ one distant glance enjoyed 
Of those delightful vales that oft his nightly dreams employed ; 
Yet still with deep indwelling thought and fancy's graphic art 
He bore her strongly-featured scenes depictured on his heart. 

. She gave him no memorial stone 'mid all her mountains hoar, 
Nor bade one islet speak his name along her sounding shore, 
Nor charged a single mirrored lake tliat o'er her surface spread 
To keep his image on its wave till gratitude was dead : 
The woodman in the forest hews, the kingly mast to rear. 
And forth the fearless vessel goes to earth's remotest sphere ; 
But who of all the mariners upon the watery plain 
Gives praise to that unswerving knight, who loved the hills of Maine ? 
Hartford, Ct., Nov. 5, 1862. L. H, S. 

* Some native Indians being brought to England, were kindly received by Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
into his family, from whom he acquired much information of their country, its scenery and pro- 
ductions. One of them, a native of Martha's Vineyard, named Epinow, artfully invented a story 
of a mine of gold in that region. 

A vessel having been fitted out for the coast of New-England by Pir Ferdinando Gorges and the 
Earl of Southampton, Epinow went in it, and when it approached his native island leaped into the 
eea and swam ashore. Soon a shower of arrows from about twenty canoes was discharged on 
deck, much disconcerting the crew. This expedition, like several other unsuccessful ones, re- 
turned witliout having performed any service adequate to the equipment. 



APPENDIX. 



3oT 



NOTE D. 

ESTIMATED TEKKITORY AND POPULATION" OF THE GLOBK 

Square miles. Population. 

Europe, 3,500,000 275,000,000 

Asia, 16,800,000 720,000,000 

Africa, 11,700,000 100,000,000 

America, 16,000,000 70,000,000 

Oceanica,. , 4,000,000 35,000,000 



52,000,000 



1,200,000,000 



ENOIiISH SPEAKING OB ENGLISH GOVERNED. 

Square miles. Inhabitants. 

United States of America, 3,250,000 31,445,080 

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,. . 122,556 29,334,788 

British Colonies and Dependencies, 8,124,528 189,610,665 



Total, 11,497,084 230,390,533 



THE FOLLOWING TABLE GIVES IN DETAIL THE 

BRITISH TERRITORY AND POPULATION IN 1861. 



COnSTRIES, ETC. 



Europe. 

England, 

Wales, 

Scotland, 

Ireland, 

Channel Islands : 

Man, 

Jersey, 

Guernsey, with adjacent 
Islands, 

Alderney, 

• S-iirk,...' 

Army, Navy, and Sailors, 

United Kingdom, 

Gibraltar, 

Maltese Islands, 

Ionian Islands, 

Heligoland, 

Total in Europe, 

Asia. 

Bengal Presidency, 

Madras " 

Bombay " 

North- West Provinces, . . 

Punjab, 

As-Sutlej States, 

Oude, 

Nagpore or Berar, 

Pegu 

Tenasserim Provinces, . . . 
East'n Straits Settlem'ts : 

Penang and AVellesley,. 

Malacca and Naning, . . 



AREA. 
SQ. M. 



50,922 

7,398 

31,324 

82,518 

2S2 
C2 

42 



122,556 

2 

115 

1,045 

5 



123,723 



221,969 

132,090 

131,544 

105,759 

73,535 

8,090 

25,000 

76,432 

32,250 

29,168' 

251 
1,049 



POPULATION. 



18,949,930 
1,111,795 
3,061,251 
5,764,542 

52,339 

56,078 

29,846 

4,933 

583 

303,491 



29,334,783 

17,750 

136.271 

229,726 

2,800 



40,852,897 

22,437,297 

11,790,042 

33,655,193 

10,435,710 

2,282,111 

5,000,000 

4,650,000 

570,180 

115,4;31 

90,6SS 
19,103 



Singapore, 

Native States subordinate 

to Bengal, 

to Madras, 

to Bombay, 



British India,. 



Ceylon, 

Labuan, 

Hong-Kong, . 
Aden, 



Total in Asia, . 

Africa. 

Gambia, 

Sierra Leone, 

Gold Coast, 

Cape Colony, 

Caffraria, 

Natal, 

St. Helena, 

Mauritius, 

Seychelles, 



Total in Aft'ica,. 

Oceanica. 

New South-Wales,.. 

Victoria, 

South-Australia, 

Western Australia, . 

Queensland, 

North-Australia,. . . . 



AREA. 
SQ. M. 



275 

515,535 
51,809 
60,575 



24,700 
50 
29 
10 



1,490,120 



2,000 

8,000 

6,000 

104,921 

22,000 

18,000 

47 

708 

200 



156,876 



356,480 

86,940 

398,830 

988,980, 
450,780 
698,770 



92,749 

38,702,206 
5,213,671 
4,470,370 



180,377,148 

1,759,523 

1,163 

75,503 

80,000 



182,293,342 



5,693 
38,318 
151,346 
267,096 
120,000 
121,068 

5,490 
238,363 

8,276 



955,650 



350,553 
544,677 
117,967 

14,823 

30,115 

6,987 



Australia, | 2,980,7S0| 1,065,123 



858 



APPENDIX. 



BBITISH TERRITORY AND POPULATION IKT I861.-Continuod. 



Tasmania, 

New-Zealand, 

Norfolk Island, 

Auckland Island, 

Feejee Islands, 

Total in Oceanica, . . 

America. 

Vancouver, 

British Columbia, 

Hudson Bay Co.'s Ter. . . 

Labrador, 

Canada West, , 

Canada East, , 

New-Brunswick, , 

Nova Scotia, etc., 

Prince Edward, , 

Newfoundland, , 

Bermuda Islands, 

Balize, (Honduras,) 

North- America, 

Bahama Islands, 

Turk's Isl. and the Caicos 

Jamaica, 

Cayman Islands, 

Trinidad, 

Barbadoes, 

Grenada, 



AREA. 
SQ. M. 



22,629 

95,500 

18 

500 

8,034 



3,107,461 



12,756 

237,250 

!,250,000 

170,000 

147,832 

209,990 

27,704 

18,746 

2,13 

85,91; 

19 

18,600 



3,250,944 

5,094 
430 

G,250 
260 

2,020 
166 
155 



POPULATION. 



89,977 

129,477 

600 

100 

183,500 



COUNTRIES. 



1,418,776 



25,000 

64,000 

71,080 

1,650 

1,396,091 

1,111,566 

252,047 

830,699 

80,648 

122,958 

11,612 

18,600 



St. Vincent,.... 

'Tobago, 

St. Lucia, 

Nevis, 

St. Christopher, 

Antigua., 

Montserrat, .... 
Virgin Islands,. 

Dominica, 

Barbuda, , 

Anguilla, , 



West-Indies, . 

Guayana : 

Essequibo, 

Berbice, 

Demerara, 

Falkland Islands,. 



South- America, 

Total in America,. . . . 



8,485,8711 



81,402 European, 

4,428 'Asiatic 

441,264 [African, 

1,760 [Oceanic, 

78,845 American, 

161,201 
.36,517 I Grand Total,. 



AREA. 
SQ. M. 



132 

144 

296 

21 

68 

108 

47 

92 

274 

72 



15,663 



44,000 

25,000 

27,000 

6,297 



102,297 



8,368,904 

123,723 
1,490,120 

156,876 
8,107,461 
8,368,904 



8,247,084 



80,128 

16,868 

26,471 

9,601 

28,177 

37,757 

7,653 

6,689 

25,280 

1,707 

8,052 



942,245 



22,925 

29,003 

75,767 

539 



128,284 



4,556,350 

29,721,855 

182,293,342 

955,650 

1,418,776 

4,556,350 



218,945,453 



The oldest of the present Colonies of Great Britain is Newfoundland, 
obtained by settlement in 1608; Bermuda was obtained in 1609; St. 
Christopher, in 1623; Barbadoes, in 1625; Nevis, in 1628; Bahamas, in 
1629; Gambia, in 1031; and Antigua, in 1632. There are lifty distinct 
colonial governments over the British possessions. 



NOTE E. ' 

From the N. Y. Christian Times of Nov. 20, 1862. 
THE POPHAM CELEBRATION. 
ACTION OF THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Among the pleasing incidents not remotely connected with the meeting 
of the General Convention, was the gathering of a number of the members 
of that body, both clerical and lay, of acknowledged interest in historical 
pursuits, at the October meeting of the New-York Historical Society, to 
notice appropriately the late celebration of the Popham settlement at the 
mouth of the Kennebec. Invitations were extended by the courtly and 
accomplished President of the New-York Historical Society, the Hon. Lu- 
ther Bradish, in behalf of the Society, to a number of the Bishops, to the 
delegation from the Diocese of Maine, and to several prominent members of 
the Maine and Massachusetts Historical Societies at that time in New- York, 
to be present on this interesting occasion. The invitation was very generally 
responded to; and, among others, the Eev. James Craik, D.l)., of Ken- 
tucky, President of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies ; the Hon. R. 
0. Winthrop, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society ; Prof. 



A p r E N D I X . 859 



Shattuck, of Boston ; the Eev. Dr. Edson, of Lowell ; the Hon. John A. 
Poor, and -the Eev. William Stevens PeiTy, of Poi'tland, members of the 
Maine Historical Society, were received by a large and brilliant assembly, 
consisting of prominent historical and literary characters of New- York and 
vicinity, in the elegant hall of the Society, on Second Avenne. 

After the paper of the evening was read, the Hon. Luther Bradish, Pres- 
ident of the Society, said, that in reporting upon the miscellaneous business 
of the Society, it was his pleasing duty to refer to an interesting event that 
had taken place during the vacation — -the celebration in Maine of the found- 
ing of the English race in the New World. In many particulars, this cele- 
bration was one of the most memorable and successful historical commem- 
orations that had yet taken place. On the Peninsula of Sabino, at the 
mouth of the ancient Sagadahoc, the modern Kennebec river, in the State 
of Maine, the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the 
first English colony on the shores of New-England was celebrated on the 
29th of August, 1863, at which, after the use of the old words of prayer and 
praise of the English Prayer-Book of that time, an eloquent and appropriate 
oration, with speeches, was delivered, and other proceedings took place, at 
the erection of a monumental stone in the walls of Fort Popham. The 
New-York Historical Society, through its President, was honored with an 
invitation to participate in that celebration. Absence from home prevented 
his receiving the invitation in time to be present, had his health permitted. 
He had replied in what he trusted were appropriate terms. He was glad to 
know that other members of this Society had responded for our city and 
State. He regretted that we had not been able to do full justice to our 
sense of obligation to our sister Society in Maine. He trusted the Society 
would in some form take notice of it in an appropriate manner. 

The Hon. George Folsom, a son of Maine, and well known as the learned 
historian of one of Maine's cradle homes of civilization and Episcopacy, 
rose, and said he fully sympathized in all that had fallen from the Presi- 
dent ; he regretted that absence in Canada, with his family, prevented his 
acceptance, in person, of the honor done him by an invitation. He asked 
leave to introduce the following resolution : 

^'■Resolced^ That the New- York Historical Society has observed with 
pleasure the efforts of the Historical Society of Maine to perpetuate the 
earliest history of their State, by associating important historic events with 
the great works of national defence of the United States Government ; that 
they acknowledge with satisfaction the courtesy extended by the Historical 
Societ}^ and citizens of Maine, inviting the Society and its officers to parti- 
cipate in the commemorative celebration of the founding of the first colony 
on the shores of New-England, on the two hundred and fifty-fifth anniver- 
sary of that event, on the 29th of August, 18G2, at which time a memorial 
stone was placed in the walls of Fort Popham commemorating the estab- 
lishment of the first Protestant civil government on the shores of New- 
England ; that this Society cordially approves the act of its President, in 
his I'epl'y to the invitation to participate in that celebration, and the good- 
will therein expressed ; that all such efforts to preserve and illustrate the 
history of our race in the new world are worthy of general notice." 

The Hon. J. Romcyn Brodhead said he seconded the resolution with great 
pleasure. He was pleased further to learn that several members of the 
Maine Historical vSociety had honored our meeting by their presence this 
evening, as had the President of the Historical Society of Massachusetts. 
Among others from Maine, the orator of the Popham Celebration, the Hon. 
Mr. Poor, was present, and he trusted this resolution would be adopted 
and that Mr. Poor would be called on to favor us with some reply thereto. 

The resolution was unanimously adopted. In reply to a call from the 



360 APPENDIX. 

President, Mr. Poor said his associates of the Maine Historical Society and 
other friends from Maine present, with himself, felt personally conjplimented 
by the action here taken, in reference to the Popham Celebration. He rose 
with a feeling of embarrassment to return thanks for this cordial and un- 
looked for compliment. He doubted not that the Historical Society of 
Maine would, in its own befitting manner, return appropriate acknowledg- 
ments for this generous courtesy on the part of the New-York Historical 
Society. 

The Popham Celebration, so courteously alluded to, had already borne 
fruits, in awakened attention to the study of the early history of the coun- 
try, and we are largely indebted to eminent historical minds of New-York 
for much of the interest already attached to it. The f;ict so happily alluded 
to by your own historian, Mr. Brodhead, the political connection between 
New-York and Maine under the charter of Charles II., in his most interest- 
ing and appropriate reply to the invitation to speak for the great met rojiolis 
of the New World, cannot fail to excite a feeling of mutual sympathy, at 
this day, with the more recent but increasing commercial intimacy of the 
two States. It is certainly refreshing to revive and recall, for this brief 
hour, the kindly intercourse of other days. It is a foct, almost forgotten, 
even by the active men of this time, that much the largest portion of Maine 
was at one time under the same government as that of New-York, and that 
Gyles Goddard, the renowned representative from Pemuquid, sat in the 
Legislature of New- York in 1 684, chosen by the free-holders of the county 
of Cornwall, in ancient Sagadahoc. This letter of Mr. Brodhead, already 
published in the Maine papers, will be jsreserved in our memorial volume 
as one of the choicest of the many interesting contributions to its pages. 
The courteous and appropriate letter of your President is already published 
in the papers of Maine. 

One fi'om the Hon. Mr. Bancroft, the most eminent of living American 
historians, and anotlier from one of Maine's honored sons, Mr. Folsom, are 
promised for this volume. Mr. Folsom's invaluable labors in bringing to 
light and preserving the earliest history of his native State, have been pub- 
licly acknowledged by formal resolutions of the Maine Historical Society. 

New-York, therefore, will have a foremost position, if not, in foct, the 
post of honor, in the records of that commemorative festival. 

That celeljration was well calculated to attract attention, for in its pur- 
pose it appeals at once to the sjanpathy of all who speak the English lan- 
guage, or share in any proper measure a feeling of pride at tlie achievements 
of our race. It had for its object the due observance of the great fact, the 
planting of our race in North-America, with the language, literature, laws, 
and religion of England, an event, if rightly compreliended in its relations 
and consequences, of as much importance as any one that has taken place 
since the establishment of the Roman Empire. 

Eight years before the Leyden Church had been gathered in Holland, 
under the charge of the pious Robinson, twenty j-^ears before they set foot 
on Plj^mouth sands, the purpose of " planting colonies in the north-west of 
North- America " had been set forth in a paper on file in the Bi'itish State 
Paper Office. More than thirteen years prior to the voyage of the May 
Flower, the title of Old England to New England had been secured by a 
formal act of possession and occupation at tlae mouth of the Sagadahoc by 
Governor Popliam's colony.* No Frenchman ever set foot on the Atlantic 

* The Seven Articles of the Leyden Flock, signed by Robinson and Brewster, sent J 
to King .James before their departure from Holland, signifyins; their full assent to thej 
authority of the English Church, form a striking contrast to their subsequent preten- 
sions, under the guidance of such men as Bradford and Winslow. See Poor's Vin- 
dication of Gorges, p. luS, for this remai-kable document in full. 



APPENDIX. 3G1 

shore, claiming title west of the Kennebec, after the planting of Popham's 
colony in 1007. 

The Colonial Empire of Great Britain, the wonder of this age, had its root 
m the charter of April tenth, 1606, and its development in the New-England 
charter of 1020, botii granted on the petitions of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The 
great idea of a strong central government, having extended dominions in 
distant lands, divided into separate provinces, communities, and states, 
each enjoj'ing equal and just laws, suited to the local wants of each, fully 
developed in action under the rule of Cromwell, originated in an earlier da}^, 
and in the mind of him who secured those great charters, and maintained 
them till the soil of the New "World was planted with our race, where it has 
gradually advanced toward universal dominion. 

The failure of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, of Sir "Walter Raleigh, and of Sir 
Richard Grenville to comprehend the ■ geographical and commercial laws 
that control the destiny of races and of empires, imposed on Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, or rather left to him, the task of occupying the continent of North- 
America, from the fortietli to the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude, in 
which limits, in spite of individual jealousy and parliamentary injustice, he 
achieved the great work of English colonization in America. In their zeal 
against monopolies, in 1621 and 1622, the Commons of England declared 
'■\fishing is of more value than plantations in America,^^ and would have 
abandoned the continent to the French but for the pertinacity, foresight, 
and enliglitened views of Gorges, and his fiivor with the King, from the pos- 
session of these great qualities. 

But the chief significance of the Popham Celebration, undoubtedly, is the 
introduction of a new principle in the naming of our forts, making them 
serve the double purpose of national defence and of preserving the memory 
of the great events in our history. 

We have seen the national honor tarnished, and the moral sense of the 
nation shocked, by the bestowal of unworthy names — names of mere parti- 
san leaders — upon national vessels, forts, and other public M'orks. This 
form of coarse flattery panders to the lower tastes of men and destroys the 
uidependence of official men, who are made the recipients of it. 

It was, therefore, with a feeling of relief that Gen. Totten was pleased to 
accept the proposal of affixing to the great work in Portland harbor the 
name of Fort Gorges, in honor of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the father of Eng- 
lish colonization in America, and naming the new work at the mouth of the 
Sagadahoc or Kennebec Fort Popham, in a similar spirit, and we hope to 
see this rule made universal. Especially do we look forward to the con- 
struction of a new fort, to guard the entrance to Portland harbor, to be 
named Fort Gosnold, and placed on the shore of Cape Elizabeth, the first 
point of the northern main of New-England, touched by that great English 
navigator, who has left on record the details of his discovery of the New- 
England coast in 1602. 

The fitness of the policy proposed will be readily appreciated by all men 
endowed with any share of that quality we call the historic sense ; for all 
know that the reputation of no public man is secure within the first hun- 
dred j^ears after his death. Personal ambition, partisan motives, and nar- 
row views characterize the popular movements of every age — our own-as of 
all past ones — and the value of no man's life can be justly measured in his 
own time. We build monuments, we name towns, cities, and counties, for 
men that a future age will hold in disfsxvor. We almost execrate the memor 
ry of men to-day, that a later time shall honor. We rear in affected grand- 
eur an obelisk in devotion to the demon of war, that the calmer reason of 
the coming centuries will demolish or condemn. "\7e do homage to popular 
partisan leaders to-day, whose doctrines have undermined the foundations 
of our Government and brought upon us civil war. 



362 SUBSCRIBERS. 

Thanks to the good sense of the people of the Empire State, they have 
preserved the name of their great navigator, Hudson, from any possibihty 
of forgetfulness or decay, by affixing it to the great river of the mountains 
that must forever bear to this great metropohs the treasures of an expand- 
ing commerce with the interior. 

Looking back to the first dawnings of American history, we are beginning 
to discover the superior lustre of the great lights that guided hitherward the 
adventurous andjieroic spirits of that great age. Under their benignant 
glow we revisit the spots made sacred by self-denjnng labors. We hope to 
strengthen our love of what is noble and heroic by an annual pilgrimage to 
that spot where, in prayer and faith, the foundations of empire in the New 
AYorld were laid. 

Associating the history of Maine with New- York, so appropriately done 
by Mr. Brodhead, may serve to increase your interest in our State. Maine 
— so rich in historic interest, so full of legendary romance, so marked by" 
the fascinations of its scenery ;* the territor}^ claimed by the great European 
powers, Spain, Holland, France, and England ; the .home of the earliest 
French settlers and of the first English colonists ; the Norurabega of Mil- 
ton's Paradise Lost, the Mavosheen of Purchase's strange narration ; " dis- 
covered by the English in 1602, '3, '5, '6, '7, '8, and '9 ;" the New-EaglawL 
of John Smith in 161-i, and of later times — obeys the law of historic as of 
commercial gravitation and gladly finds sympathy, " without reservation," 
in the great metropolis of the Western World. 

Maine, too, builds the ships that fill the docks of the East River and the 
Hudson. She lifts from her quarries the granite colunms that form the 
ornaments and support of your pu))lic edifices, and the rich colonnades and 
solid walls of the Treasury Extension at "W^ashington. She needs, most of 
all, the pen of the historian and the pencil of the painter, to be made as 
familiar as household words in the private residences of the Fifth Avenue 
and Madison Square, by means of landscapes that shall equal in beauty tlie 
richest scenery of the Rhine and the Alps ; true to nature from the sea- 
shores, the valleys, and the mountains of Maine. With her summer retreats 
thus laid open, she shall annually attract pleasure tourists of other lands 
than our own. 

Rejoicing in the success of your Society, and grateful for your generous 
courtesy, I may be allowed to close, as I began, \>j expressing for our 
Society and its members, here present, the assurance of our hearty thanks. 

* " We, Americans, neglecting botli the surpassing magnificence — nay, often sub- 
limity — and the rare loveliness of various districts of our own Continent, wander 
forth across the seas, to seek, at great expense, and amid physical and moral dangers, 
scenery in foreign lands, which falls short of the attractions of much we possess at 
home. Thus, how few are alive to the glorious and varied beauty of that zone of 
islands, which, commencing with the perfection of Casco Bay, terminates with the 
precipitous, seal-frequented shores of Grand-Menan, at the entrance of the Bay of 
Fundy. Of all the Archipelagoes sung by the poet, described by the historian, and 
depicted by the painter, there is none which can exceed, in its union of charms, 
those two himdred miles of intermingling land and ocean, where, lost in each other's 
embrace, the sea seems in love with the land, and the shore with the foam-frosted 
waves !" — General J. Watts de Peyster's Dutch in Maine, p. 44. 



LIST or SUBSCEIBEES TO THE ilIE^rOPJAL YOLTLIE. 



Andrew, Hon. John A., Gov. of Mass. 
Alden, Hiram 0., 
Anderson, John F., 
Andrews, Hon. Leonard, 
Anthony, C. J., 

Bancroft, Hon. George, 
Bache, Prof. Alex D., 
Ballard, Rev. Edward, 
Burgess, Rt. Rev. George, 
Brodhead, Hon. J. Romeyn, 
BoLLES, Rev. E. C, 
Burgess, Rev. Alexander, 
Barrett, F. R., 
Brown, Hon. J. B., 
Brown, J. M., 
Buzzell, Dr. J., 
Brown, J. Olcott, 
Bryant, Hubbard W., 
Bradley, Robert, 
Brackett, IL 8., 
Beal, Geo., W., 
Bailey, Frederick William, 
Brown, Hon. James S., 
Barker, C. H., 
Bourne, Hon. E. E., 
bupfum, j. n., 
Bell, Samuel D., 
Bowdoin College Library, 
Beardsley, Rev. E. E., D. D., 
"Rrevoort, J. C, 



, Boston, Mass., 


1 


Belfast, Maine, 


1 


Windham, " 


1 


Biddeford, " 


1 


Worcester, Mass., 


1 


New York City, 


1 


Washington, D. C, 


1 


Brnnswick, Maine, 


1 


Gardiner, " 


1 


New York City, 


1 


Portland, Maine, 


1 


a a 


1 


u a 


1 


a a 


1 


<<^ ► a 


1 


a a 


1 


a a 


1 


a a 


2 


a a 


1 


ii a 


1 


ic a 


1 


a a 


1 


Milwaukee, Wis., 


1 


Wayne, Maine, 


1 


Kennebunk, Maine, 


1 


Lynn, Mass., 


1 


Manchester, N. H., 


^1 


Brunswick, Maine, 


1 


Hartford, Conn., 


1 


New York City, 


1 



3G4 



SUBSCRIBEKS 



CoBURN, Hon. Abner, Gov. of Maine, Skowhegan, Maine, 



Chandler, Hon. P. W., 
Coast Survey Office, 
Clark, Dr. E., 
CuMMiNGS, Dr. Henry T., 
Cutler, Otis, 
Corey, "Walter, 
Clark, Charles, 
Chadwick, Dr. Geo. H., 
Carter, J. E, 
Coney, Hon. Samuel, 
Clark, Isaac R., 
Cobb, Francis, 
Chapman, E. M., 

Drummond, James, 
Drummond, Hon. J. H., 



Boston, Mass., 
Washington, D. C. 
Portland, Maine, 



Augusta, " 
Bangor, " 
Rockland, " 
Biddeford, " 

Bath, Maine, 
Portland, Maine, 



Drummond, Hon. Thomas, U. S. Judge, Chicago, Illinois, 



Drake, S. G., 

Dole, Andrew T., 

Dow, John E.,' 

Dix, Geo L., 

DoANE, Wm. C, Rector St, John's Ch. 

Davis,AV. J., 

Dane, J., 

Day, Horace H., 

Donnell, Wm. E., 

Dow, John E., Jr., 

Dawson, H. B., 

Day, John J., 

Danforth, F. a., 

Dwight, T. B., 



Boston, Mass., 
Portland, Maine, 

(( a 

Boston, Mass., 
Hartford, Conn., 
New York City, - 
Kennebunk, Maine, 
New York City, 
Portland, Maine, 

Morrisania, N. Y., 
Montreal, C.E., 

Mechanic Falls, Me., 
Philadelphia, Pa., 



Eliot, Samuel, Pres. Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., 
Eastman, Hon. Philip, Saco, Maine, 

Eaton, L. H., Bucksport, Maine, 



5 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 

1 
1 
1 

5 
2 
1 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 
1 

1 

2 
1 



SUBSCRIBERS. 



565 



Emery, Joshua T., 
Elliott, Daniel, 
Everett, Hon. Ebenezer, 
Elwell, Edward H., 

FoLSOM,*Hon. Geo., 
Fessenden, D. W., 
Furbish, Henry H., 
Farwell, N. a., 
Fisher, Roland, 
Fletcher, H. A., 
Fogg, 0. S., 
Fowler, John, Jr., 
Fellowe, R. S., 

Gardiner, Hon. R. H., 
GiLMAN, Hon. Charles J., 
GiLMAN, Dr. John T., 
GooDENow, Hon. John H., 
Greene, Hon. J. D., 
GoDDARD, John, 
Griffin, C. S. D., 
Gibson, E. T. H., 
Griffin, Joseph, 

Howe, Hon. Joseph, 
Hillard, Hon. Geo. S., 
. Hedge, Rev. F. H., D. D., 
HoDSDON, Gen. J. L., 
Hall, Hon. Joseph B., 
Hammond, Geo. W., 
Heald, J. S., 
Howard, Hon. Joseph, 
Haines, Allen, 
Hall, Edward W., 
Hull, John T., 



Portland, " 1 

Brunswick, " 1 

Portland, " 1 

New York City, 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

" U -J 

Rockland, " 1 

Bath, " 1 

Lancaster, N. H., 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

New York City, 1 

New Haven, Conn., 1 

Gardiner, Maine, 1 

Brunswick, " 5 

Portland, " 1 

Alfred, " 1 

Cambridge, Mass., 1 

Cape Elizabeth, Me., 1 

Portland, Maine, ■ 1 

New York City, 1 

Brunswick, Maine, 1 

Halifax, N. S., 2 

Boston, Mass., 1 

Brookline, " 1 

Bangor, Maine, 1 

Portland, " " 1 

Westbrook, " 1 

Portland, " 1 
1 
1 

Washington, D. C, 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 



a a 



a u 



366 



S U B S Cli I B E R S 



Harmon, CO., 
Hubbard, T. H., 
Hanson, Chas. V., 
Inman, Henry, U. S. A., 

Jewett, Hon. Jedediah, 
Jackson, Geo. E. B., 
Jones, T. R., 

Kingsbury, Benj., Jr., 

LOMAX, J., 
Larrabeb, W. H., 
Library, New York State, 
Library, New York Society, 
Library, New York Mercantile, 
Library, Boston Public, 
Library, State, 

Maine Historical Society, 
Maine, State of, 
McCrillis, Wm. H., 
Morris, E. S., 
Moore, Rev. H. D., 
Morrison, J. B., 

MOSHER, A. J., 
Merrill, A. R., 
Murray, H. J., 

Munsell Joel, 

Mercantile Library Association, 

norris, b. w., 
NoYEs, James, 
Nichols, F. W., 

Osgood, J. R., 

Pierce, Hon. Josiah, 
Perry, Rev. Wm. S., 



Portland, Maine, 1 

North Berwick, Me., 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

Portland, Maine, 2 

a a -^ 

n a 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

Kalamazoo, Mich., 1 

TthRcg.Me.V.M., 1 

New York, 1 

New York City, 1 

a a a 1 

Boston, Mass., 1 

150 

50 

Bangor, Maine, 2 

Portland, " 1 

a a ][ 

Farmington, Maine, 1 

Westhrook, " • 1 

Buckfield, " 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

. Albany, N. Y., 2 

Portland, Maine, 1 

Skowhegan, Maine, 1 

Portland, " 1 

" "1 

Boston, Mass., 1 

Gorham, Maine, 2 

Portland, " 1 



SUBSCRIBERS. 



367 



Patten, James T., 
Poor, Henry Y., 
Peabody Institute, 
Pelton, F. W., 
Poor, John A., 
Page, Moses B., 
Pierce, Lewis, 
. Pennell, Thos., 
Poor, Fred. A., 
Page, Benj. V., 
PuRiNGTON, George E., 

Richardson, C. B., 
Robinson, Dr. ^Y. C, 
lliCHARDsoN, Thomas, 
Rogers, Charles B., 
Ross, George E., 
Robinson, R. I., 
Robinson, A., 
Robinson, R. L., 

Shaw, AbxNer 0., 
Shaw, Samuel P., 
Smith, Hon. F. 0. J., 
Sparrow, John, 
Sweat, Hon. L. D. M., 
Sew ALL, R. K., 
Smith, Jacob, 
Stevens, Rev. W. B., ' 
Sewall, W. B., 
Swan, Rev. J. A., 
Souther, Rev. Samuel, 
Smith, W. B., 
ScAMMON, Hon. J. Young, 
Scammon, Franklin, 

SCAMMON, C. T., 



Batli, Maine, 3 

New York City, 1 

Boston, Mass., 1 

Portland, Maine, 5 

Great Falls, N. H., 1 

Portland, Maine, 1 

a u -j 



a 


a 


1 


Chicago, 


Illinois, 


1 


a 


u 


1 


New York City, 


10 


Portland. 


, Maine, 


1 


(( 




1 


(( 




1 


a 




1 


a 




1 


a 




1 



Portland, Maine, 1 

Cambridge, Mass., 1 

Westbrook, Maine, 5 

Portland, Maine, 1 

Wiscasset, " 1 

Bath, " 1 

Philadelphia, Pa., 1 

Kennebunk, Maine, 1 

"Worcester, Mass., 1 

Machias, Maine, 1 

Chicago, Illinois, 5 

" U -I 



3G8 



S U B S C R I B E E S 



Stevens, E. B., 
Stewart, R. L., 
Stevens, H. A., 
SiGOURNEY, Mrs. L. H., 
Shannon, Richard C, 
Sawyer, Geo. B., 
Stevens, J. S., 
Short, John L., 

Thurston, B., 
Ten Broeck, W. S., 
Titcomb, Jos., 
Talbot, Hon. Geo. F., 
Trowbridge, C. A., 
Thompson, Daniel, 

Uphold, Rfc. Rev. Geo., Bishop of Ind. 

Veazie, John W., 

Washburn, Hon. I., Jr., 

Woods, Rev. Leonard, Pres. Bow. Col 

Willis, William, 

Whittingham, Rt. Rev. W. R., 

Williams, PELHAM,Rec. Trinity Ch., 

Wallbridge, Hon. Hiram, 

WiNSLOW, J. N., 

Wheeler, Rev. A. D., 

WiNSHIP, J. 0., 

Weeks, J. L,, 
Williamson, Jos., 
Wells, Daniel, Jr., 
Waterville College Library, 



Chicago, Bliiiois, 




New York City, 




Boston, Mass., 




Hartford, Conn., 




Biddeford, Maine, 




Wiscasset, " 




Chicago, Illinois, 




Portland, Maine, 




Portland, Maine, 




U (( 




Kennebunk, Maine, 




Machias, Maine, 




Detriot, Mich., 




Chicago, Illinois, 




, Indianapolis, Ind., 




Bangor, Maine, 




Orono, Maine, 




., Brunswick, Maine, 




Portland, " 




Baltimore, Md., 




Hartford, Conn., 




New York City, 




Portland, Maine, 




Topsham, " 




Gorham, " 




Portland, " 




Belfast, 




Milwaukee, Wis., 




Waterville, Maine, 





ERRATA. 

Page 21, sixth line from bottom, for York read Knox ; page 181, fifth line from 
bottom, for Hall read Hull; page 187, seventeenth line from bottom, for hath 
read had ; page 224, note 2, read nuces ; page 225, note 3, fourth line, after he- 
cause, dele of; note 5, change to Arnberff[K]etie[m.] 



ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN AMERICA. 



VINDICATION OF THE CLAIMS 



SIR FERDINANDO GORGES, 



FATHEK OF ENGLISH COLONIZATION IN AMEEICA. 



BY JOHN A. POOR. 

( Delivered before the Historical Societies of Maine, and New York. ) 



NEW YORK: 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

443 and 445 Broadway. 

LONDON, 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. 

MDCCCLXIL 



Entered according to act of Congress, in tlie year 1862, 

By JOHN A. POOR, 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Maine. 



N. A. Foster & Co., rrint, Portland, Me. 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

At a meeting of the Society, held in the new City Hall Building, 
Portland, on Wednesday, June 29th, 1859, John A. Poor, Esq., read 
a paper on ^^ English Colonization in America," in which he claimed 
for Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and his associates, the honor of English 
colonization on this continent, and disputed the claims set up by the 
Massachusetts historians, in behalf of the Pilgrims and the Puritans. 

K. K. Sew ALL, Esq., read a paper on the historical remains at Sheep- 
scot and Sagadahoc, concurring in the views expressed by Mr. Poor 
as to the claims of the Pilgrims. 

Votes of thanks were passed to Messrs. Poor and Sewall. 

Extracts fi-om the records. 

EDWARD BALLARD, 

Becording Secretary. 



NEW YOEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

At a stated meeting of the Society, held at the Library on Tuesday 
evening, October 4th, 1859 : 

The paper of the evening was read by Mr. John A. Poor, of Portland, 
Maine, entitled " English Colonization in America." 

On its conclusion, Dr. John W. Francis submitted the following reso- 
lution, which, after some remarks by Messrs. Henry O'Reilly and Erastus 
C. Benedict, was adopted. 

Eesolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to Mr. John 
A. Poor, for his able and interesting paper read this evening, and that a 
copy be requested for the Archives, and that the same be referred to the 
Executive Committee for publication, or such further disposition as they 
may deem expedient. 

Extract from the minutes. 

ANDREW WARNER, 

Recording Secretary. 



NOTE 



The following paper, as now printed, contains several paragraphs 
omitted for want of time, in the address before the New York Ilistor- 
ical Society. 

The authorities cited are few, compared with the works examined, 
having a direct bearing on the question, and confined mainly to such 
as have not, till recently been easily accessible to the public. The 
Documents found in the Appendix are such as seemed needful to the 
correction of the popular history of New England. The persistent 
efforts of modern writers to prejudice the name of Gorges, from the 
fact of his strong political and religious attachments to an unpopular 
sovereign and to an established church, ought by this time to cease, 
as the occasion that originally prompted them, has passed away. The 
fact that he was a royalist and a churchman would naturally excite the 
jealous hate of cotemporary rivals of dissenting opinions; but he did 
not seek to plant the established church of his nation, but the people of 
his race, with organized institutions of government, in the new world. 
If, as we have attempted to show, it is to him, that the English race 
owe the colonization of America, it is enough for our purpose ; for all 
admit that he left to each community its choice, in all matters of civil 
polity, religion, and church government. 



ADDRESS. 



Two events, of ever increasing importance, have 
marked the progress of this continent, destined 
hereafter to be regarded, as the great epochs of its 
history — the grant of authority from the British 
Crown, under which Colonies were planted in 
America,^ and the final surrender of the continent 
to the English race, by the conquest of Canada from 
France — the former obtained through the efforts 
of the sagacious and enterprising Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, the latter achieved by the heroic valor of 
Wolfe. France, at one time, dividing with Spain 
the whole of North America,^ saw its power broken, 

1. See Appendix A. 

2. On the evening in whicli this paper was read in New York, there 
was presented to the Historical Society, a Spanish Glohe, dated 1542, en- 
graved on copper, which shows the boundaries of Florida, and of " Ver- 
razzan or New France-^ — Florida extending as high as the 33° north, — 
New France reacliing north to Terra Corterealis. This Globe is one of 
the most valuable contributions yet made, to the history of North Amer- 
ica. It was presented to the Society, by Buckingham Smith, Esq., late 
Secretary of Legation at Madi'id. 

Map of the world by Hondius. 1580. 



6 



and its dominion in the new world extinguished, 
when at the charge of the British bayonet, the hith- 
erto invincible columns of Montcalm, broke and fled 
from the Plains of Abraham, and the morning sun- 
light of September 18, 1759, revealed to the disap- 
pointed soldiers of De Levis, the proud Cross of St. 
George, floating in triumph over the ancient Cita- 
del of Quebec.^ 

The dominion of a continent was changed by a 
single encounter, and English institutions are now 
planted, as the fruits of that victory, over a region 
of territory greater than all Europe, extending from 
the northern ocean to the gulf of Mexico, and from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific seas. 

The future of this conquering race, no statesman 
or philosopher of this day is able to foretell. My 
purpose is, to trace the earliest practical efforts to 
plant it in America, and to vindicate the claims of 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the Proprietor of my na- 
tive State, to the proud title of Fatjier of English 
Colonization in America. 

The greatness of England is due to her coloniza- 
tion in America. She was but a second rate power 
at the commencement of the 17th century, till rais- 
ed to greatness by the iron will of Cromwell. Af- 
ter the destruction of the Dutch fleet, the conquest 
of Acadia from France in 1654 ; of Jamaica from 
Spain in 1655 ; the establishment of her navigation 

1. Histoii'c Du Canada, F. X. Garueaii. Vol. i. p. 329. 



laws, and her protective policy, she was admitted 
as an equal, into the community of nations. The 
Venetians and the Swiss sought the friendship of 
the Protector. All the northern nations respected 
his power, and the great Mazarin acknowledged his 
authority as the lawful sovereign of Great Britain.^ 
The necessity of encouraging the Colonies pre- 
viously planted in North America, led to the navi- 
gation act of Cromwell, in 1651, which was the 
foundation of the maritime superiority of England. 
That statute remained for nearly two centuries,^ and 
secured to England the entire trade of all her colo- 
nies. It stimulated the commercial enterprise of 
her people. It allowed strangers no importations, 
unless of their own products in their own vessels. 
This act fell with crushing weight on the trade of 
Holland, and left England mistress of the commerce 
of Europe. The protective policy of Cromwell, also, 
gradually drew to her own shores the manufactures 
of Holland and Flanders, and finally those of France 
after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by Louis 
XIV., on the 24th of Oct., 1685. This celebrated 
edict of Henry IV., in 1598, secured liberty of con- 
science and perfect toleration to the Protestants of 
France, with a right to share the public offices ; and 

1. Heereu's Political History. Vol. i. p. 145 and seq. 

2. The navigation Act of 1051 was repealed with the corn laws, June 
26, 1846. Ch. 22, 9 and 10 Victoria3. 



8 



its repeal inflicted a blow on France from which 
it has never recovered. Over 800,000 of her best 
people fled from the persecution that followed, most 
of them to Great Britain and her Colonies. The 
most skilful artizans of France sought refuge in 
England, over 50,000 taking up their residence in 
London. They established the manufacture of 
silks, jewelry, crystal glasses, and other fine works 
hitherto unknown in England, but since that 
time successfully prosecuted throughout the British 
realms.^ Such has since, been the increase of the 
productive power of England, that according to the 
statement recently made by Lord Brougham in the 
British Parliament, the machinery of England, at 
this time employed, in the various branches of 
industry, equals in effective power, the labor of 
800,000,000 of men, an aggregate three-fold greater 
than the entire laboring population of the globe. 
Yet England was the latest of all the European pow- 
ers to encourage its subjects who came to America, 
by the direct aid of its government, or to take meas- 
ures to plant its race in the new world. It was not 
so much the efforts of the government, as the genius 
of the people, and the enterprise of individuals, that 
gave to its sons the inheritance of this fair land, 
where free institutions have developed an expan- 
sive energy, that demands for its race, supremacy 
of the sea and dominion over the land. 

1. Anderson's History of Commerce. 



The discovery of North America by Sebas- 

1497 . . • 

tian Cabot,^ in the service of Henry VII., in 

1497, seventeen months prior to the time when Co- 
lumbus saw the mainland of the continent, and the 
exploration of its coast from latitude 67 deg., 30 m^ 
north, to Florida, has often been urged in modern 
times, as giving to England claim of title. But 
it was followed by no act of jurisdiction, or of 
occupation for nearly a century,^ while all the 
other maritime powers of Europe were engaged in 
schemes of colonization. 

Emmanuel, King of the Portuguese, whose 
' subjects, at that time, were the great naviga- 
tors of Europe, and whose vessels had visited the 
East, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, mor- 
tified at his neglect of the offer of Columbus, deter- 
mined to make up for it, by new conquests in the 



1. Memoir of Sebastian Cabot, witli review of the History of Mari- 
time Discovery. London, 1831. 

2. Tlie Goverjiment of England was tlie first to lay down the true 
doctrine as to the right to newly discovered countries. They distinctly 
affirmed in 15S0, in the reign of Elizabeth, that discovery and prescrii)- 
tion are of no avail unless followed by actual occupation. " Prescriptio 
sine possessions haud valeat." Camden, Eliz. Auuales, 1.580. Hearne's 
Ed., 1717, p. 360. 

" Occupation confers a good title by nature, and the laws of nations." 
Pari. Debates, 1P20-1, p. 250. 

Deuonvilles' Memoir, on Fi-ench Limits in America. N. T. Doc. His. 
Vol. ix. p 378. 

" The first discoverers of an unknown country, not inhabited by Euro- 
peans, who plant the arms of their Prince, acquire the property of that 
country." 

9 



10 



new world. He dispatclied Gaspar CortereaP to 

North Araerica in 1500 ; who described its shores 

and forests, its stately pines, suitable for masts, &c. 

But trafiic in slaves, then an established 

business of the Portuguese, being esteemed the 

more profitable, he sailed northward, took in, by 

kidnapping, a cargo of over fifty natives, whom he 

carried to Europe and sold for slaves.^ But the 

Portuguese did not maintain their claim to the 

country. 

Juan Ponce de Leon, in the service of Spain, 
1512. . . . 

took possession of Florida in the name of his 

Sovereign, in 1512 ; published a map of the coun- 
try as far north as Newfoundland, and claiming it 
as a possession of the Spanish Crown. But the 
Spaniards chiefly sought, at that time, mines of 
gold and silver, and never extended their occu- 
pancy of the country north of Florida, at about 
33° north latitude. 

France, on the contrary, sent out fishina; 
1504. 

' vessels manned by the Bretons and Normans^ 

to Newfoundland, as early as 1504.^ Those who 

1. The country of Labrador is laid down as " Corterealis," on the 
Spanisli Globe, spoken of in a previous note, and in cotemporary maps 
of North America. 

2. Bancroft, Vol. i., p. 16. 

3. Relations Des Jesuites. Contenant ce qui s'est passe de plus 
remarquable dans Les Missions des pcres de la compagnie de Jesus 
dans la nouvelle France. Ouvrage public sous les auspices de Gouv- 
ernemeut Canadien, 3 vols., 8 vo., 1858. Quebec. Augustine Cote, Edi- 
teur imprimeur. Vol. i. p. 1. Relation 1611. 

Documentary History of New York. Vol. ix. pp. 1, 304, 378, 701, 781. 



11 



came earliest, named the country first visited, Cape 
Breton, from their own home. They discovered 
the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, visited all the 
creeks and harbors of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
gave names to the localities which they still retain, 
and published maps of the country. 

Jean Denys of Honfleur, made a map on 
" his return in 1506, and Thomas Aubert, of 
Dieppe, brought back natives and a plot of the 
country in 1508. The ocean they crossed was 
named the sea of the West, 800 leagues broad in 
its narrowest strait from France. The Western 
ocean they called the sea of China.^ 

In 1524, Giovanni Verrazzani, a Floren- 
1524. . , . . . 

' tine navigator in the service of Francis I., re- 
turned from his last voyage of discovery to Ameri- 
ca. According to Champlain,^ he made two voy- 
ages to the new world, but we have no narrative 
from his own pen of more than one. He sailed to 
the coast of Carolina, in a direct passage, where he 
found a native population more refined in its man- 
ners, than that of any other country of the new 
world. It had never before been visited by Euro- 
peans. Verrazzani, sailing northward, explored the 
coast, penetrated its various harbors, entered the 
bay of New York, and spent fourteen days in the 
harbor of Newport, Khode Island. 

1. Eelations Des Jesuites. Vol. i. p. 2. IGll. 

2. N. Y. Doc. Hist. Vol. ix. p. 2. 



12 



At each place visited, he made acquaintance with 
the native population, which proved more and more 
warlike and unamiable as he advanced northward. 
Following the general line of the shore, he sailed 
150 leagues along the coast of Maine, clearly defin- 
ing that great Bay or Gulf extending from Cape 
Cod to Cape Sable, known afterward, as the Bay or 
Gulf of Maim} To the entire tract of country nev- 
er before discovered or frequented by Europeans, 
he o;ave the name oi New France. On reachino; the 
50th parallel of latitude, he sailed to France, and 
published a most interesting narrative of his voy- 
age.^ France in this way established her claims to 
the country. It was not Cartier, as is commonly 
asserted, but Verrazzani, that gave the name of 
New France'^ to the country he discovered, which 
extended from the 30th to the 50th degree of north 
latitude. This claim France maintained, and named 
Carolina for Charles IX. During his reign in 1562, 
Eibaut built a fort there, which was called Carles- 



fort in honor of the King 



4 



1. Ediugburgli Encyclopedia. Vol. xviii. p. 263. 

2. New York Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 39, et seq., navo series, 
contains the full narration of Verrazzani's voyage, addressed to the 
French Monarch, translated by J. G. Coggswell, Esq., of the Astor Li- 
brary. 

3. Kelations Des Jesuites. Vol. i. p. 14. Champlain, N. York Docu- 
ments. Vol. ix. p. 1-4. Do. vol. ix. p. 266. Harris' Voyages, Vol. i. 

4. Garneau's History of Canada. Vol. i. p. 118. 

Curiosity has been awakened the past, year in regard to the loca- 
tion of Charles-ff)rt from the naval and military expedition to the same 



13 



It is a singular fact that neither Spain, France or 
England had furnished up to this time, any great 
navigator in the discovery of America. They were 
all Italians ; Columbus a Genoese, Cabot a Vene- 
tian,-^ and Verrazzani a Florenthie. 

The French Monarch, followino; out his 

1 'i'?4 

* plans for the colonization of America, sent out 
Jacques Cartier in 1534, who, sailing from St. Malo 
on April 20, with two ships and 122 men, on May 
10th, 1534, came in sight of Bonavista, Newfound- 
land, a spot discovered by Cabot in 1497. 

In the " Relations of the Jesuits," recently pub- 
lished under the patronage of the Government of 
Canada, it is stated, that Cartier had been on this 
coast ten years before,^ and it is fair to conjecture 
that he was in the expedition of Verrazzani. But 
we find no other account of any such voyage. Car- 
tier was most fortunate in his expedition. He 

region, under command of Commodore Dupont and Gen. Sherman. No 
traces of the old fort have yet been found, by those in the army of the 
Beaufort expedition. Gen. Peter Force of Wasliiugton, whose autliority 
is most vaktable, places the site of Charles-fort on the north side of St. 
Helen's Island. 

1. John Cabot, the father of Sebastian, undoubtedly was a Venetian. 
There is much evidence lately brought to light, tending to prove that 
Sebastian Cabot was born in Bristol. In Grafton's Chronicles of Eng- 
land, page 1323, we find tlie following notice of Cabot of Bristol : " A 
native of that city, but who with his father removed to Venice at the 
age of four years." 

Sebastian Cabot, son of a merchant of Cathay, in London. Eden, 249. 
Eden says, " Sebastian Cabot told me he was born at Bristol, and at 
four years of age went to Venice." Page 255. 

2. Vol. i. p. 2. 



14 



found the localities of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
already known to the fishermen, having the names 
they now bear. He sailed around Newfoundland, 
took possession in various places, both on the main 
land and the island of Newfoundland. Taking with 
him two young natives of Gaspe, by their full con- 
sent, he sailed for France and reached St. Malo on 
the 5th day of September, 1534.^ 

The report of Cartier's voyage and discov- 

' eries, excited great curiosity and interest ; and 
with a more ample equipment in three ships, pro- 
vided at the Royal expense, he sailed on another 
expedition for the new world on the 19th of May, 
1553, carrying back to America his two young sav- 
ages, who became useful as interpreters to the na- 
tives. 

Cartier on this voyage sailed up the Gulf and 
into the river St. Lawrence, where he spent the fol- 
lowing winter at the fortified town of Hochelaga, 
to which he gave the name it still bears, Montreal? 
The next sprino;, erectino; the cross in the 

' name of his Sovereign at various points, and 
taking with him the Chief of the savages at Que- 
bec, Donacana, and his two young interpreters, he 
returned to France on the 6th of July, 1536. 



1. Cartier's Voyages. 
Garneau's History of Canada. 

2. Cartier's Voyaices. Garneau's History. Vol. i. p. 21. 



15 



He made his third voyage in 1540, but no new 
discoveries were made ; and for nearly fifty years, 
the more northern portions of North America were 
apparently forgotten by the Governments of both 
France and England. 

Spain, at that time the great Europeon power, 
subjugated to her dominion, and planted colonies 
in the rich countries of tropical and southern 
America, held the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida to 
the 30th parallel of latitude. 

The spirit of adventure had only led the French 
and English to take fish in the northern seas, and 
fur and timber from the coast of Maine — though 
the coast of America, from Labrador to the Equa- 
tor, was accurately delineated on maps published 
in Europe within fifty years of its first discovery by 
Columbus. The French sent Ribaut, in 1562, to 
Florida, and joined with him Laudonniere, in 1564 
but no results of importance came of these expe- 
ditions, as the French were driven out by the 
Spaniards. 

The French asserted their right to the country 
north of Florida, for nearly one hundred years 
after its discovery, previous to any substantial 
claim to it being set up on the part of England. 

The first act of the British Parliament, con- 

' cerning America, was passed in the second 

year of the reign of Edward VI., in 1548, entitled 

"an act against the exaction of money, or other 



16 



dues, for licence to traffic into Iceland, Newfound- 
land," &c.-^ 

England seemed more intent on religious 

1577. . . . 
disputes than on the extension of her domin- 
ions in America, during the reigns of Henry VIII., 
Edward VI., and Mary. No returns of the English 
fishery are found prior to 1577. Those of the 
Erench date back to 1527 — three years after the 
expedition of Verrazzani. In 1577 there were 
found one himdred and fifty Erench fishing vessels 
on the coast of Newfoundland, engaged in the cod- 
fishery, and only fifty English ones. 

The heroic exploits of Drake, the first Eno;- 
1578 . . 

lishman that circumnavigated the globe — who, 

sailing on this voyage from Plymouth, Nov. 15, 1577, 
returned to the same port, Sept. 26, 1580 — and 
the Discourse of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, "' to prove a 
passage by the north west to Cathaia" printed in 
1576, had filled the youthful mind of England with 
enthusiasm for noble undertakings, and stimulated 
the ambition of all classes; and Sir Humphrey Gil- 
bert led the way in the plans of colonizing the new 
world. He obtained from Queen Elizabeth a char- 
ter "for planting our people in America," June 11, 

1578, in the 20th year of her reign. Under this 
grant, he took possession of Newfoundland, and 
planted the city of St. John, in the presence of thir- 
ty Europeans, of various nations — fishermen, who 

1. Statutes at large. 



17 



accidentally, but not unfrequently, assembled in that 
secure seaport, at that early day. This port, long 
after this, retained the name of "the English port," 
and is so mentioned by the historian L'Escarbot, in 
his histor}'^ of the voyage of De Monts to Acadia, 
in 1604. 

But the loss of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, at sea, 
proved fatal to his plans, and it was sftme years 
before Newfoundland became a permanent settle- 
ment, or colony.^ 

In 1584, the Queen granted letters patent for 
the planting of a colony in Virginia to the gallant 
and accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh, whose heroic 
efforts for the honor of his country, and whose 
melancholy fate, excite at this day, the sympathy 
of all generous minds. But the first colony he 
transported to Virginia, returned — the second, per- 
ished by some unknown means; and thus was 
reserved for another, the glory of first planting the 
Saxo-Norman race in the new world.^ 



1. Jolin Guy was sent out as Govornor of Xewfoundlanrl in 1610. 
and began the Colony at Conception Bay. {PiircJiase.) 

The Newfoundland Colony is the oldest of the present Colonies of 
Great Britain. 

2. Since the writing of this paper, a work of great interest to the 
student of English history has been undertaken, " A CALE>fDAR of 
State Papeks." Edited by W. Noel Sainsbury. London, 18G0. 
Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts." It is sub-divided into three 
great branches, or divisions — " Domestic," " Colonial," and " Foreign." 
The first volume of each, is already published. That containing an 

3 



18 

Such is, in brief, the history of European 
" attempts at colonization in North America, to 
the close of the sixteenth century. There was not 
an European settlement from Florida to the North- 
ern Ocean. Two hundred and fifty years ago, Eng- 
land, a second rate power in Europe, had not a colo- 
nial possession on the globe. France and Holland 
were thenHhe great maritime nations ; and well did 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges say in the House of Com- 

abstract of colonial documents, embraces the period from 1574 to 1660, 
from which we condense the following, viz : 

1. 1574. Points stated in reference to proposed efforts to plant set- 
tlements in the northern parts of America. Petition to the Queen, dated 
March 22, 1574, to allow of an enterprise for the discovery of sundry 
rich and unknown lands "fatally reserved for England, and for the 
honor of your Majesty." Endorsed, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Geo. 
Peckliam, Mr. Carlile, and Sir Richard Greuville. p. 1. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert's commission and charter are dated June 11, 
1578. 

2. 1580. Fragment of a report of persons who had travelled in 
America, with John Barros, Andrew Thevett, and John Walker. Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert did confer in person. In 1580, John Walker and his 
company discovered " a silver mine within the river Norumbega." p. 2. 

1600. Consideration on " a proposition for planting an English colony 
in the northwest of America. If the Prince would assist it, in part, his 
Majesty's merchants go liberally into it — the country be stirred to furnish 
men ; some gentlemen moved to be adventui'ers, and a worthy general 
chosen, qualified to judge by sight, of the strength of the places; it 
might be a glorious action for our Prince and country, honorable for the 
general welfare, and adventurers, and in time profitable." p. 4. 

(This paper bears internal evidence, that Sir Ferdinando Gorges was 

its author.) 

160.3, Nov. 8. Copy of patent by the French King to De Monts, of 
Acadia, from the 40th^ to the 46th" of north latitude, p. 4. 

(The early filing of this copy in the British State Paper office, shows 
how complete was the information of the government as to the move- 
ments of the French towards colonizing the New World.) 

1600, April 10. Grant of charter to Geo. Popham and als. by King 
Charles, from 34° to 45". p. 5. (See Appendix A.) 

1607, March 9. Ordinance enlarging the number, and augmenting 
the authority of the council for the two several colonies and plantations 



19 



mons, when called on to show why he should not 
surrender the charter of New England, " That so 
valuable a country covld not long remain unpossessed, diher 
• hy the French, Spaniard, or Dutch, hut for his efforts 
here to settle a flourishing plantation} 

The throne of England was filled by Elizabeth, 
from 1558 to 1603. That of France from 1589 to 
1610, by the liberal-minded and chivalric Henry 
IV., who of all the Sovereigns of his time, seems 
most fully to appreciate the importance of Ameri- 
can colonization. 

In the autumn of 1602, an expedition was 
* fitted out by the merchants of Eouen, under 
charge of Seigneur du Pont Grave, of St. Malo, 
and in the early part of 1603, Henry sent Cham- 
plain,^ the great French navigator, to the St. Law- 



in Virginia and America. Thirty members for the first colony, from 
34" to 41° north latitude ; and ten members for the second colony, be- 
tween 38* and 45° north latitude. 
1607, March 13. Letter of Gorges to Challong. (See later note.) 

1607, Dec. 13. Geo. Popham to King James. Maine Hist. Coll. Vol. 
V. p. .341. 

1613, Oct. 18-28. Montmorency Admiral of France to King James. 
Complains of Argall at Mt. Desert. Kequests compensation, i&c. 

The following are found in the Calendar of " Domestic State Papers :" 

1603, July 26. Warrant, &c., to N. Parker, (Warrant Book, p. 102,) 

take possession of the office and papers of Sir Ferdiuando Gorges on 

his suspension from office. 

1603, Sept. 15. Warrant to pay 56s. per annum to Sir F. Gorges, who 

is restored to his former post of Captain of the new fort at Plymouth. 

(Warrant Book, fol. 18.) 

1608, J^etter. Sir F. G. to Thomas Gamel of Salisbury. Escape of 
Challoner (Challong) out of Spain. Bad feelings of the Spaniards to- 
wards the English. 

1609, July 31. Warrant to deliver Ordnance Stores to Sir F. G., 
Captain of the forts at Plymouth Island. 

1. Gorges' Brief Narration. Maine His. Coll. Vol. ii. p. 3G. 

2. Champlain's Voyages, p. 40, edit., 1632. 



20 



rence, who visited on his return from Quebec, 
Gaspe, the Bay of Chaleur, and the other places 
occupied by the fishermen in the Gulf He encoun- 
tered icebergs of prodigious length, between the- 
44th and 45th degrees north latitude, and obtained 
from the savages a description of tlie St. Lawrence, 
above Hochelaga. 

On the return of Champlain in 1603, Hen- 
iftm 

' ry had granted to Pierre du Gas, Seigneur De 

Monts, a French Protestant, and a member of his 
household, all that part of North America lying be- 
tween the 40th and 46th parallels of north latitude, 
and confirmed it by letters patent, Nov. 8th, 1603.^ 
In this grant the King says, " fully confiding in 
your great prudence, and in the knowledge you 
possess of the quality, condition, and situation of 
the said country of Acadia, from the divers voyages, 
travels, and visits you have made into these parts, 
and others neighboring and circumjacent, &c., &c., 
we do appoint you our Lieut. General, to represent 
our person in the country, coasts and confines of 
Acadia, from the 40th to the 46th degree of lat- 
itude." The design was, the occwpancy of the country. 
De Monts sailed from Havre De Grace, 
■ March 17, 1604, with two vessels, in one of 

1. L'Escarbot Historie de la nouvellc France, 1609. 

Champlaiu's Voyages (Ed. 1632,) p. 44. 

Hazard's Coll. Vol. i. p. 45. 

Williamson's History of Maine. Vol. i. app. 

Sainsbury's Calender of Colonial State Tapers. Vol. i. p. 4. 



21 



which, Capt. Timothy, of New Haven, Master, were 
De Monts, Champlain, Poutrincourt, and the ac- 
complished scholar and historian L'Escarbot.^ In 
the other, commanded by Capt. Morell, of Honfleur, 
was Du Pont Grave the companion and associate 
of De Monts. They called at Isle Sablon, and 
reached the coast May 16, 1604, where they found 
a ship trading with the natives contrary to the di- 

1. L'Escarbot's History of New France, is by far the most valuable 
of all the works on America of that date. His first edition, published 
in 1608-'9, 12 mo., contained a map of the country explored, a copy of 
which we give. This work was translated into English, and published 
by P. Erondelle, London, in 1609, as an original work without any 
allusion to the author. A 2d edition was published in Paris in 1612, 
under the following title, which we translate from the copy recently 
placed in the Astor Library. 

"HISTORY OF NEW FKANCE, 
Containing the Voyages, Discoveries and Settlements made by the 
French, in the West Indies and New France, with the consent and 
authority of our Most Christian King, and the diverse fortunes of 
those engaged in the execution of these things, from a hundred years 
ago, till to-day. 

In which is comprised the History, Moral, Natural and Geographical, 
of the said Province : loith the Tables and Pictures of the same. 

By Makc L'Escakbot, LaAvyer in Parlianftnt ; Eye Witness of a part 
of the things here recited. 

Multa renascentur qua, lam occidere cadent que. 

p A K I s : 

Joux MiLLOT, in front of St. Bartholomew with the three crowns, and 

in his shop, on the steps of the great hall of the Palace. 

1612. 

WITH PATENT FKOJI THE KING." 

In the Library of Congress is a copy of the 3d Edition, published at 
Paris, in 1627. 

The Dutch and the French adopted the names of the I'ivers and places 
given them by De L'Escarbot. 

I am aware that Warburton and others assert, that L'Escarbot came 
out in the 2d Expedition in the ship loNAS, in 1606 ; but I find nothing 
to j ustify this statement from his own writings. 



22 



rections of the King, which they seized and confis- 
cated, giving the master's name, Rossignol, to the 
Port, his only return for the voyage. The port is 
now called Liverpool, but a Lake in the interior 
still bears the name of the unlucky master. 

Exploring the coast westward, De Monts reached 
port Mouton, where they landed, waiting the arri- 
val of Du Pont Grave. The company of Plant- 
ers, those who designed to remain in the country, 
was one hundred in number, and here they erected 
tents, and planted the ground with grain, which two 
years later, was found bearing a good crop. 

Champlain, impatient at the delay, proceeds west 
in a shallop, explored the coast, and discovered the 
beautiful island, which he named St. Croix — from 
the fact, that just above it, the streams formed a 
natural cross, one on each side, entering at right an- 
gles with the main river — which river finally re- 
tained the name of St. Croix, or Holy Cross, and 
now divides New Brunswick from Maine. Cham- 
plain rejoined his companions at Port Mouton, 
after exploring as far west as the Penobscot. 

On the arrival of Du Pont Grave and Captain 
Morell, both ships sailed west, entered the Bay St. 
Marie, discovered the Bay of Fundy, then sailing 
north, reached Port Royal. 

Poutrincourt, who came out to select for himself 
a place of settlement, was so delighted with Port 
Royal, that he solicited, and obtained from De Monts 



23 



a promise of a grant of it, and with Du Pont 
Grave, returned to France, in the autumn of 1604, 
to arrange for his removal to this country, arfd for 
a fresh supply of planters. 

Under the advice of Champlain, De Monts' com- 
pany proceeded west, discovered the river St. John, 
followed the coast westward, and planted them- 
selves in the spot he had selected, known at this 
day as Neutral Island, in the St. Croix river, within 
the limits of the State of Maine. This was the 
first settlement of Europeans north of Florida. 
Here they laid out a town, and planted the ground. 
During the autumn of 1604, habitations were erect- 
ed, a fort built, a magazine constructed, and a chap- 
el finished.^ 



1. " Leaving the river St. John, they came, following the coast twenty 
leagues, to a great river — properly a sea — where they fortified themselves 
in a little Island, seated in the midst of this river, that the said Lord 
Champlain had been to reconnoitre ; and seeing it strong by nature, and 
easily guarded ; and in addition, seeing that the season was beginning 
to pass, and the necessity of seeking a lodging without going further, 
they resolved to stop there. 

" The Island of St. Croix is difficult to find for one who has not been 
there — there are so many Islands and great bays to pass, before reaching 

"There are three or four mountains high above the others on the 
sides, but on the side of the north, from which the river descends, is a 
pointed one, two leagues distant. The woods of the main land hand- 
some, and the grass likewise. There are streams of fresh water, very 
agreeable, opposite the Island, where several of the people of De Monts 
made their home, and had built cabins there. The said Island is about 
half a league in circuit, and at the end of the side towards the sea, 
there is a mount, or small hill, and like a separate Island, where we 
placed the cannon of Lord De Monts ; and there also the chapel, built 
after the savage fashion. 

" At the foot of this, there are some muscles, so many that it is a 
wonder, which can be picked up at low tide, but they are small. 

" Lord De Monts caused the people to work upon his fort, which he 
had fixed at the end of the Island, opposite that where he had planted 



24 



The winter of 1604-5 was lona; and severe, 
' and thirty-five of their number died of the 
scurvy. In the spring, De Monts, disappointed at 
the rigor of the winter, seeking a milder cUmate, 
proceeded to explore the country west and south, 
designing to settle four degrees south of St. Croix. 
He visited Mount Desert, the Penobscot, the Ken- 
nebec,-^ Casco,^ and Saco ; and coasted as far south 
as Cape Malabar, twelve miles south of Cape Cod. 



his cannon. This was prudently considered to command all the river, 
above and below. 

" But there was one ditficulty. The fort was on the northern side, 
where there was no shelter, except the trees on the bank of the Island. 
Without the fort was the lodgings for the Swiss, and other little houses, 
like a suburb of a city. Some had built cabins on the main land, near 
the brook. But in the fort was the house, or dwelling, of Lord De 
Monts, made of good carpenter work, with the flag of France floating 
above it. On the other side was the magazine, where reposed the safety 
and life of all — similarly made of good carpenter work, and covered 
with shingles; and opposite the magazine were the houses of Lord 
Orville, Champlain, Champdore, and other noble personages, and on the 
opposite of the dwelling of De Monts, was a covered gallery, for the 
exercise of play, and for workmen in rainy weather ; and between the 
said fort and the platform where the cannon was, all tilled with gardens. 
Each one amused himself, or worked with a gay heart. All the autumn 
passed with this, and it was doing well to have lodged ourself, and 
cleared up the Island before the coming on of the winter." 

L'Escarbot, book iv. ch. 4, p. 460— 2d edition, 1812. 

1. " Sailing west, 1605, to find a place of settlement, they, De Monts, 
Chami)lain and Champdore, came to N(jrumbega, the river of Pentagouet, 
(Penobscot,) and thence to Kinnilieki, (Kennebec,) which shortens the 
way to the great river of Canada. There are a number of savages 
settled there, and the lands begin to be better peopled." 

L'Escarbot, book iv. ch. 7, p. 497. 

2. "From Kinnibeki, in going farther on, they found the Bay 
^ Marchin,' (Portland,) from the captain who commands there." 

L'Escarbot, book iv. ch. 15, p. 557. 

" In 1606, Poutrincourt arrived at Mnrchin, which is the name of the 
savage captain, who, on the arrival of the said poutrincourt, cried he! 
he! To which they replied in the same way. He replied, asking in his 
language, " 117*0 ai'e you ?" To which they replied, " We are friends." 
On the approach of Poutrincourt, he made with him a treaty of friend- 
ship, and gave him presents of knives, axes and hatchets, made of pater- 
nosters, or glass tubes, (tuyaux,) white and blue, of which he was 



26 



Portland liarl^or, which he named "Marchin," 
from the Chief, or Sagamore, who then resided here, 
and who was killed in 1G07, took the name of 
Machigonne. De Monts sailed into all the bays, 
harbors, and arms of the sea, from St. Croix to 
Cape Malabar, a distance of over four hundred 
leagues, " searching to the bottom of the bays." 
Saco still retains the name " Choiiaquet^^ given to 
it by De Monts, in 1605. South of '' Pescadouet^'' 
Piscataw^ay, (Portsmouth,) the harbors were less 
and less satisfactory, and the country less and less 
inviting ; and after reaching Cape Malabar, De 
Monts despaired of finding a suitable place of 
settlement, as he had designed. While at Cape 
Cod, in 1605, they carried on shore a large kettle 
for cooking, which the Indians seized in the 
absence of the cook. On discovering the theft, he 
attempted to rescue it from their hands ; but he 
was slain by them, and the kettle carried oft? 
This was undoubtedly the same kettle that Brad- 
ford speaks of, which the Plymouth people found, 
in their first explorations in 1620.^ 



rlelightert ; also, of the treaty, knowinji- well that that would make him 
a great deal of support. Ho distril)uted to some of the gre^at uumber 
around him, the presents of Lord Pontrineonrt, to whom he brought 
much tlesli of deer, to support the company with. Thence they pro- 
ceeded to Chouaquet, the river of the Captain Olmuchin, where took 
place the next war between the Souriquois and the Etchemins. 

"This Marchin was killed the year we departed ti-om New France. 
1607. Idem." 

1. L'Escarbot. p. 4!)S. 

2. Bradford's History of I'lymouth. Mass. Hist. tSoc. Coll. ISuG. 
p. 82, o 



26 



In the Spring of 1605, Du Pont Grave arrived at 
St. Croix with suppUes and a reinforcement of 
forty men, for the colony, which gave great joy. 
At his suggestion, the establishment was broken 
up at St. Croix, and they removed to Port Royal. 
Here, under the advice of L'Escarbot, they cleared 
and cultivated the lands, and built a mill for the 
grinding of their corn. Though Port Royal was 
destroyed by Argall, in 1613, it was rebuilt, and 
has ever since been peopled. A settlement was 
made on the St. John, above the Falls, by Du Pont 
Grave, and St. Croix Avas also soon re-occupied. 

In 1611, when the Jesuits, Biard, and Masse, 
visited the Kennebec, for the purchase of grain, but 
without success, Plastrier, who lived at the Island 
of St. Croix, gave them, on their return, two hogs- 
heads of beans, which rendered important aid, in 
supplying Port Royal with food, in the winter of 
1611-12. Four French ships were at that time 
taking fish, at the White Rock, twenty-two leagues 
west of St. Croix. 

The whole country was familiar to the French 
fishermen. Champlain, and Champdore the pilot 
of De Monts, remained four years in the coun- 
try. 

On the return of L'Escarbot to France, he pub- 
lished his invaluable history, with a very accurate 
map of Acadia, or New France, as far south as Cape 
Malabar. Acadia became well known throughout 



27 



Europe. In 1609, the work of L'Ecsarbot was 
translated and published in England.^ 

De Monts sailed up the Kennebec river, as is 
reported, in 1605, in the expectation of reaching 
Hochelaga, or Montreal, by water, led into this 
attempt by the reports given him by the Indians. 
Though claiming the country ae far south as the 
40tli parallel of latitude, there is no evidence that 
De Monts ever sailed south of, or attempted to 
extend his jurisdiction south of Cape Malabar. 
All east of this, was claimed as within the control 
of France. The country east of French Bay, or 
the Bay of Fundy, was called Acadia; between 
that and Canada, Norumbega.^ 

At the commencement of the 17th century, 
" the Dutch were the most commercial and the 
most powerful nation of Europe, if superiority in 
wealth and enterprise, is to be regarded as the true 
measure of greatness. Small in territory and infe- 
rior in point of numbers to France or England, 
Holland had grown superior to either in all the 
arts of civilized life. Tolerant of religious opinion, 
and enjoying unrestricted commercial freedom, the 
people of the low countries had accumulated wealth, 
reclaimed their marshes from the invasions of the 
sea, and cultivated the arts of peace. Their pros- 
perity excited the jealousy of England, and they 

1. See note aute, page 21. 

2. Relations of the Jesuits. 



28 



were finally compelled to yield to the iron will of 
the Protector, who infused new life into all pur- 
suits, not only of commerce, but of war. 

The people of Holland had learned to practice 
religious toleration long before those of any other 
nation, and were the first to recognize the commer- 
cial code, or what«is commonly called the " Law of 
nations." They were equally in advance of other 
powers, in all commercial ideas and undertakings. 
As early as 1581, the Dutch merchants had estab- 
lished a profitable trade with the West Indies, and 
in 1597, had a still more lucrative one with the 
East Indies. In 1600, the realized wealth of Hol- 
land surpassed that of France, England or Spain. 
Her Batavian provinces had yielded abundant re- 
turns to her merchants, though following long and 
tedious voyages around the Cape of Good Hope, 
and other nations sought to reach the same covet- 
ed treasure by a shorter route across the Atlantic, 
by the long-ho^^ed for northwest passage to Cathay. 
With this view the famous British East India Com- 
pany was chartered December 31st, 1600, with a 
capital of £70,000. In 1602, the Dutch East India 
Company was chartered with vastly greater cap- 
ital. 

An expedition for the colonization of North 
America was one of the early objects of the Dutch 
government and people, and they claimed the 
country from the 41st^ to the 45th'' of north lati- 



29 



tude. Their ship, in command of Henry Hudson, 
was off the mouth of the Penobscot river, July 18^ 
1609, and from that year they had actual and per- 
manent possession of Ilanaite, or New York Island. 
So that France, Holland and England, started al- 
most simultaneously in a career of colonization in 
the new world. 

At this time appeared on the public stage 
' Sir Ferdinando Gorges. Born 1573, at Ash- 
ton Philips, in Somersetshire, he became a distin- 
guished naval officer in the Spanish war prior to 
1603, when, on the accession of James L, he was 
made Governor of Plymouth. How early he be- 
came interested in the colonization of America, 
does not quite clearly appear, but being an inti- 
mate friend of Sir Walter Raleigh, though 21 years 
younger, it is fair to suppose that he possessed the 
same adventurous spirit, and in his " Briefe Narra- 
tion," speaking in later times of the grant to him- 
self of the Province of Mayne, which was dated April 
3d, 1639, he says, " Being now seized, of what I 
had travailed, for above forty (40) years, together 
with the expenses of many thousand pounds, and 
the best time of my age ; laden with troubles and 
vexations from all parts, as you have heard, I will 
now give you an account in what order I have set- 
tled my affairs, in that, my Province of Mayne, with 
the true form and manner of the Government, ac- 



30 



cording to the authority granted me by his Maj- 
esty's Royal Charter." 

" First. I divided the whole into eight Baili- 
wicks or Counties, and these again into sixteen, sev- 
eral hundreds, consequently, into Parishes and Tith- 
ings as people did increase and the provinces were 
inhabited," &c.^ 

Gorges speaks in familiar terms, at the com- 
mencement ,of his narrative, of the efforts of Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert and of Sir Richard Grenville to 
plant colonies in America, the last of which termi- 
nated 1585, so that his mind was evidently familiar, 
at an early day, with their plans for American 
Colonization. 

It has been recently made to appear that he was 
directly concerned in the great voyage of George 
Weymouth, in 1605, regarded as the initial point 
in the history of New England ; and probably, in 
the previous ones of Gosnold, in 1602,^ and of 
Pring, in 1603. 

1. Briefe Narration. Maine Hist. Coll. Vol. ii. p. 54. 

2. Interest lias of late been awakened as to the route, and the pur- 
poses of Gosnold's voyage, which at this time deserves notice. 

On the 26th of March, 1602, Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold, in the 42d 
year of the reign of Elizabeth, sailed from Falmouth, in the County of 
Cornwall, for a voyage into the north part of Virginia, in the bark 
Concord, with thirty-two persons on board— twelve of them sailors, and 
twenty " to remain in the country for population." So that the priority 
of the English, in efforts to colonize the country, is clearly established. 

.The country that invited rival efibrts at colonization by the Dutch. 



31 



The information, recentl}'^ brought to hght by a 
pubhcation of the Hon. Geo. Folsoni, "A Catalogue 
of Original Documents in the English Archives, 
relating to the early History of Maine; ' proves, what 



French and English, extended from Cape Breton to the head of Dela- 
ware bay. 

Of those who came out with Gosnokl, who was cliief in comniand, 
and who died in Virginia in 1007, the only names preserved to us are 
Bartholomew Gilbert, second officer ; John Angel ; William Street, ship 
master ; Robert Solterne, who came out with Bring the following year — 
afterwards a licensed clergyman ; John Tucker ; John Brereton, gentle- 
man, and journalist of the voyage; James Rosier, the journalist of 
Weymouth's voyage in 1G05, and Gabriel Archer, gentleman, and also 
journalist of the voyage, who subsequently went to Virginia. 

The land-fall of Gosnold is thus described by Archer : 

" On Friday, the fourteenth of May, early in the morning, we made 
the land, being full of fair trees— the land someM'hat low — certain liam- 
niocks, or hills^lying into the land; the shore full of white sand, but 
very stony, or rocky. And standing fair along by the shore, about 
twelve of the clock the same day, we came to an anchor, where eight 
Indians, in a Biscay shallop, with mast and sail, and iron grapple, and a 
kettle of copper, came boldly aboard us ; one of them apparelled with a 
waistcoat and breeches of black serge, made after our sea-fashion ; hose 
and shoes on his feet; all the rest (saving one that had a pair of breeches 
of blue cloth) were naked. These people are of tall stature, broad and 
grim visage; of a black swart complexion; the eyebrows painted white; 
their weapons are bows and arrows. It seemed, by some words and 
signs they made, that some basques of St. .John de Luz, have fished or 
traded in this place, being in the latitude of 43 degrees. 

" But riding here, in no very good harbor, and withal doubting the 
weather, about three of the clock the same day in the afternoon, we 
weighed, and standing southerly oft' into the sea the rest of that day, and 
the night following, with a fresh gale of wind ; in the morning, we found 
ourselves embayed within a mighty headland," &c. 

This headland was Cape Cod, a name given to it by Gosnold, from the 
abundance of cod taken there, and which it still retains, despite the 
eftbrts of subsequent voyagers and writers, to aflix to it the name of 
Cape James, in honor of the King. • 

John Brereton, the fellow passenger and historian of the voyage, thus 
describes Gosnold's land-fall : 

" The 18th day, we landed in seventy fathoms., and observed great 
beds of weeds, much woods, and divers things close floating by us, when 



Avas before only a matter of conjecture, that Gorges 
was the chief promoter of Weymouth's voyage. In 
Gorges' letter, on file in the State Paper Office, 
published in full by Mr. Folsom, dated March 13, 



as we find smelling of the shore as from some southern cape and Anda- 
lusia in Spain. 

" The 14th, about six o'clock in the morning, we discovered land, that 
lay north, and the northerly part we called the Northland, in which to 
another rock, upon the same, lying twelve leagues west, that we called 
Savage rock ; for six leagues toward the said rock is an outpoint of 
rising ground, the trees thereof were high and straight from the rock, 
east northeast. 

" But finding ourselves short of our purposed place, we set sail west- 
ward, leaving them and their coast about sixteen leagues S. W. ; from 
thence we perceived in that course two small Islands, the one lying 
eastward from Savage rock, the other to the southward of it. The coast 
we left was full of goodly lands, fair plains, with little green round hills 
above the cliffs, appearing unto us. 

"The 15th day we had again sight of the land, which made ahead ; 
being, as thought, an Island," &c. 

This proved to be Cape Cod. 

From these accovrnts, Dr. Belknap supposed Savage r^ck to be on the 
northerly shore of Massachusetts Bay, about Nahant. Drake, in his 
elaborate history of Boston, expresses the belief that " Savage rock" was 
in the vicinity of Great Boar's Head, in Hampton, and that Gosnold's 
land-fiill was at Boon Island, on the Isle of Shoals, from the fact that 
they are nearer to the 43'^ of latitude than any Island on the coast. 

The late John McKeen, Esq., of Brunswick, a thorough and accurate 
observer and explorer, in a paper read before the Maine Historical So- 
ciety, exposes the errors of modern writers, and shows that the state- 
ment of Strachey, that Gosnold's laud-fall was at the mouth of the Sa- 
gadahoc, is the true one. Strachey was a cotempoi*ary, and undoubtedly 
wrote with the narrations of Archer and Brereton before him ; and in 
constant intercourse with those who shared this adventurous voyage. 

R. K. Sewall, Esq., in his able work, " Ancient Dominions in Maine," 
concurs in fixing the land-fall of Gosnold at Sagadahoc. 

Mr. McKeen sums up the case in the following brief statement : 

" The bark Concord, Capt. Gosnold, sailed from Falmouth, England, 
on the 26th of Marcli, O. S., 1602, and on the 14th of April, had sight 
of the Island of St. Mary, one of the Azores. On the 2;3d of April, 
they were in north latitude 37". On the 7th of May, they first saw birds 
of various kinds, which was an indication that they were approaching 
the land. On the 9tli of May, they were near north latitude 43'^. On 



33 



1607, addressed to Mr. Chalinge (Challong) he 
speaks of the return of the former voyage, of hut 



the 12tli of May, they had the "smell of land," by which it was likened 
they were not tar from it. But on the 14th, being in north latitude 43'', 
pursuing their course westerly, at .six o'clock in the morniny, they 
discovered laud, which lay directly uorth from the ship, and which 
Strachey says was " land about ISagadahock." Pursuing their course 
westerly, they observed the land full of fair trees, and somewhat low ; 
certain hammocks, or hills, lying into the land; the shores full of white 
sand, but very stony, or rocky. They had not proceeded far, when they 
discovered land ahead, over the starboard bow. This point of land 
called by the natives Semlamis, and by the English, Cape Elizabeth, 
after the name of the reigning queen. Finding thisland not what was ex- 
pected, " being short of their proposed place," they named it Noi'thland, 
and pursued their course. From Cape Elizabeth, they veered a little 
south, and now commenced estimating their distances. They continued 
their course a fair distance from the land, till they came opposite an out- 
point ot wooded land ; the trees tall and straight. The distance from 
Cape Elizabeth they estimated at live leagues. This point is now called 
on our maps, "Fletcher's Point." It is situated near Saco, and the 
estimated distance from the Cape is very nearly correct. 

" From this point, they shaped their course W. S. W., and sailed seven 
leagues to a great rock in the land, where they came to an anclioi*. This 
rock they called Savage Rock, and it is now named on our maps, York 
Nubble. 

"This, likewise, corresponds to the course and distance as now 
estimated on the maps. I am indebted for the two last suggestions to 
a communication in the Temperance Journal (a newspaper printed in 
Portland) of January, lS.i>U, which was over the signature of 'liuckport.' 

"To this place, 'the great rock in the land,' the Concord arrived at 
twelve o'clock at noon, having sailed from six o'clock in the morning, 
from the first point discovered, bearing north to this place about forty- 
eight miles. This rock was called Savage Rock." 

The opinion that the land-fall of Gosnold was upon the coast of Maine, 
between Monhegan and Cape Elizabeth, is strongly confirmed by the 
fiict that Pring in his voyage the next year with Robei't Salterne as a 
companion, followed the same general direction. He followed the track 
of Gosnold, having on board some of Gosnold's party. Pring came in 
sight of land further east, between 43" and 44° of latitude, at the mouth 
of the Penol)scot Bay, and gave the name of Fox Islands to the group 
still bearing the name, from the fact of taking a silver-grey fox upon it. 
The only objection to this theory is the supposition that this rock was 
found in the precise latitude 43°, which would bring them into the 
neighborhood of the Isle of Shoals, or Boon Island. But the intelligent 
reader will perceive from the language as quoted from Archer, that 
the place "where the Basques fished" was in 43° — a loose form of ex- 
pression as applied to a fishing region, extending indefinitely for a con- 



34 



the five savages" whom Weymouth took as " the chief 
return to us, who first, sent to the coast."^ 



siderable space along the coast. There is reason to suppose they were 
not particular in determining the exact latitude of the places named, 
from the fact, that their place fixed on for settlement, Elizabeth Isle, is 

1. 1607, Mar. 13. Plymouth. Letter of Sir Ferdiuando Gorges to 
Mr. Chalinge. 

Mr. Chalinge — I received your Ire sent me by the Mr. Nicholas 
Hines by whom I rest satisfied for your pte of the proceedinge of the 
voyadge and I doubte not but you willbe able to answer the expectacon 
of all your freindes. I hoope you shall receive verie shortlie, if alreadie 
you have not, an attestation out of the highe Courte of Admiraltie to give 
satisfocou of the truthe of our intent, yt sett you out, let me advise you to 
take heede that you be not ov'shott in acceptinge recompeuce for wrongs 
received, for you know that the jorney hath bene noe smale chardge to us, 
yt first sent to the Coast and had for our returne but thefice salvages 
xohereof two of the principal you had with you and since within in two 
months after your depture we sent out an other shippe to come 
to your supplie, and now again we have made a nue preparacon of di- 
vers others, all of wch throughe your inisfortmie is likely to be frustrate 
and our time and chardge lost, therefore you"" demands must be answera- 
ble hereunto, and accordinglie seeke for satisfacou which cannot be lesse 
than five thousande poimdes and therefore before you conclude for lesse 
attende to receive for resolucon li'om hence, if they answere you not 
thereafter, for if their condicon be not such as shallbe reasonable, we do 
know howe to right ourselves, for rather then we will be loaser^ a penny 
by them we will attend a fitter time to gott us our content, and in the 
mean time leave all in their hands, therefore be you carefid herein, and 
remember y' it is not the buisness of merchants or rovers but as you 
knowe of men of another ranke and such as will not pref'erre manie 
complayntes nor exhibite divers petitions for that they understande a 
shorter way to the woode, soe comendinge you to God and continuing 
my selfe 

your most assured and lovinge friende 

Plymoth 13 of Ferdinando Gorges 

Marche 1607 
Postcript 

I pray you use the meanes that the salvages and the companie be sent 
over with as muche speede as is possible and yt you hasten yourself 
away if you see not likelihoode of a present ende to be had for we will 
not be tired with their delaies andendlesse sutes such as commoulie they 
use but leave all to time and God the just revenger of wrongs 

Ferdinando Gorges 
(Endorsed) The Coopie of Sr. Ferdinando Gorges his Ire to 

Mr. Chalens. 

Received ye 6 day." 

An abstract of this letter is given in the " Calender of State Papers." 

See note, page 19. 



35 



This voyage of Weymouth was nominally un- 
dertaken to find the long sought for north-west 
passage to India, and " as set forth" by the Earl of 
Southampton, and Arundel], Lord Wardour. But 
this was undoubtedly a pretence to mislead the 
French who claimed the country, and were at this 
time, occupying the territory, and coasting along 
the shores of Maine. De Monts and AVey mouth 
were in the same w^aters in 1605.^ 

Weymouth sailed from the Thames, March 
31, 1605, explored the coast of Maine, and 
west as far as Nantucket. 

As Weymouth had been familiar with the coast 

in a previous naval service of twelve years, and 

knew that any idea of finding, by this route, a 

north-west passage to India, was absurd, the con- 
's 

put dowu by the same authority — Brereton — as in latitude 41° 10', 
when it is found to be many minutes north of that point. We thinlv the 
evidence fully establishes the fact we assume, that Gosuold's land-fall 
was at Sagadahoc ; that on the 13th day of May, 1602, he sighted the 
Islands from Seguin to Cape Elizabeth, and gave to the latter, the name 
it still bears, in honor of his Queen, — that the name of Falmouth, subse- 
quently adopted for the site of the present city of Portland, was so alfixed 
in compliment to the jjort from which the first voyage of exploration 
sailed. It was a tavorite idea with the English, from the first, to give 
the name of their former home, or their place of embarkation, to the 
places visited in the new world, as in case of Bristol, Plymouth, Fal- 
mouth, Yarmouth, Portsmouth, Dartmouth, York, Wells, &c. The 
French, on the contrary, generally adopted the local names of the 
country, attempting to express in language, the sounds gathered from 
the lips of the natives. 

1. Weymouth's voyage, Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. viii. 3d Series, p. 
125. 



36 



elusion is inevitable, that Weymouth's voyage was 
designed to lay the foundation of the Royal Grant, 
which secured the Continent to Great Britain. In 
fact, Weymouth proposed to plant a Colony, and 
Owen Griffin and another man had agreed to re- 
main. 

A most interesting discussion is now going on by 
many able writers in Maine, as to the river visited 
by Weymouth, and which of the noble harbors of 
that wonderful coast, was the Pentecost harbor, in 
which he anchored his ship Archangel, in 1605.^ 

Weymouth carried back to England, in 1605, five 
natives of Pemaquid, from whom Gorges obtained 
full " particulars of its stately islands, and safe har- 
bors, what great rivers ran up into the land, what 
men of note were seated on them, what power they 
were of, how allied, what enemies they had, and the 
like." 2 

By his glowing descriptions of the beauties of 
the country, he satisfied the Royal inquiry, and laid 



1. Gorges calls the river Pemaquid ; but the river, at this time, bear- 
ing that name, does not answer to the descriptions of Weymouth's nar- 
rative. It is a historical and geographical question, of interest, and we 
are gratified in being able to say, that an accurate exploration of these 
localities is to be made by the officers of the United States' Coast Sur- 
vey, when on duty in that region ; and that Professor Bache, its accom- 
plished Superintendent, with the consent of the Government, has agreed 
to placfi a steamer of his command at the service of the Maine His- 
torical Society for this purpose. 

2. Gorges' Narration, p. 17. 



King.^ 
1606 



37 

the foundation for the subsequent grant from the 

It was through the efforts of Gorges that 
King James made the Royal Grant or Charter, 
dated April 10, 1606, granting to " the Council of 
Virginia" the Continent of North America, from the 
34th to the 45th degrees of north latitude, and all 
the Islands within one hundred miles of the shore. 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges and the Earl of South- 
ampton petitioned the King for this Charter, but 
no copy of this interesting Document has as yet 
been brought to light. 

The attacks on Sir Ferdinando Gorges, for 
"grasping cupidity," in obtaining charters from 
King James, and the Stuarts, are among the strik- 
ing evidences of the intolerance of the times. 
He, or any one, who would sacrifice his private 
fortune, to establish plantations in America, de- 
served the gratitude of the nation, and the warmest 
commendations of modern times. Instead of this, 
the historians of New England — those even, of our 
times, or such as follow Puritan authorities, unjust- 
ly represent Gorges as a man of a selfish and grasp- 
ing spirit, whose only ambition was private advan- 
tage. 

The grants to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and to Sir 
Walter Raleigh, by Elizabeth, were as obnoxious 
to the charge of monopoly, as those subsequently 

1. See Appendix A. 



38 



given to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his associates, 
which the Puritans attacked; but no complaint 
was made against Elizabeth, for these grants ; 
although others lavishly bestowed by her, in 
various departments of trade and manufactures, 
were boldly attacked by the Commons. The 
Queen, with instinctive sagacity, yielding to their 
demands — revoked the grants, and thanked the 
Commons for their zeal in the public welfare. 

This charter of April 10, 1606, is the foundation 
of the title of Eno-land to North America. It was 
followed up by immediate acts of jurisdiction and 
possession. 

In May. 1606, the Lord Chief Justice of England, 
Sir John Popham, having become associated in the 
enterprise, sent out Captain Haines, "in a tall ship 
belonging to Bristol and the river Severne, to settle 
a plantation in the river of Sagadahoc," but from 
the failure of the master to follow the course or- 
dered, the ship fell into the hands of the Spaniards, 
by capture, and the expedition failed of success.^ 

In August, of the same year, a ship, sent out 
by Sir Ferdinando Gorges, under command of 
Henry Challong, with two savages as pilots, for 
the same purpose — the two designed to form one 
expedition — shared a similar fate.^ 

Another vessel, sent by the Chief Justice, in 

1. Strachey, p. 290, vol. iii. Me. His. Coll. 

2. Gorges' Briefe Narratiou, p. 19. 



39 



command of Hanam, under charge of Martin Pring 
as master, sailed two months later, reached the 
coast of Maine; but not finding Challong, made a 
perfect discovery of all the rivers and harbors, and 
brought back a most exact description of the coast; 
which so encouraged the company that they de- 
termined to send out a greater number of planters,^ 
with better provisions for the planting of a colony 
at Sagadahoc, the next year. 

In consequence of these mishaps, Virginia was 
occupied prior to Maine. The expedition of Capt. 
Newport, to the Chesapeake, which sailed Decem- 
ber 19, 1606, landed at Jamestown, May 13, 1607. 
On the 31st of May, 1607, the first Colony 
" to New England, sailed from Plymouth for the 
Sagadahoc, in two ships — one, called the " Gift of 
Godl' whereof George Popham, brother of the Chief 
Justice, was commander ; the other, the " Mary 
and Jolinl'' whom Raleigh Gilbert commanded — on 
board which ships were one hundred and twenty 
persons for planters. They came to anchor under 
an Island, supposed to be Monhegan, the 31st of 
July, and in two hours after, eight savages in Eu- 
ropean apparel, came to them from the shore in a 
Spanish shallop, and after rowing about the vessels 
awhile, boldly came on shipboard, where three *of 
them stayed all night. The next da}^ the others 
returned with three women, in another Biscay shal- 
lop, bringing beaver skins, for the purpose of trade^ 



40 



so familiar had those people become with the hab- 
its and designs of their Enropean visitors. 

The fish of Monhegan were already more es- 
teemed than those of Newfonndland, and this spot 
was the common resort of all the trading vessels on 
the coast. By this means, undoubtedly, the Indians 
became possessed of French and Spanish shallops 
prior to 1607. 

After exploring the coast and Islands, on Sunday, 
the 9th of August, 1607, they landed on an Island 
they called St. George, where they had a sermon 
delivered unto them by Mr. Seymour, their preacher, 
and returned aboard again. On the 15th of August, 
they anchored under Seguin, and on that day the 
"Gift of God" got into the river of Sagadahoc. 
On the 16th, both ships got safely in, and came to 
anchor. On the 17th, in two boats, they sailed up 
the river — Captain Popham in his pinnace, with 
thirty persons, sCad Captain Gilbert in his long boat, 
with eighteen persons, and "found it a very gal- 
lant river; many good Islands therein, and many 
branches of other small rivers falling into it," and 
returned. On the 18th, they all went ashore, and 
there made choice of a place for their plantation, at 
the mouth, or entry, of the river, on the west side, 
(if)r the river bendeth towards the nor-east and by 
east,) being almost an Island,' of good bigness, in. a 
province called by the Indians "Sabino" — so called 
^f a Sagamo, or chief commander, under the grand 



41 



bashaba. On the 19th, they all went ashore, where 
they had made choice of their plantation, and where 
they had a sermon delivered unto them by their 
preacher, and after the sermon, the President's 
commission was read, with the laws to be observed 
and kept. 

George Popham, gent., was nominated President. 

Captain Raleigh Gilbert, 

James Davies, 

Richard Seymour, Preacher, 

Captain Richard Davies, 

Captain Harlowe, 
were all sworn assistants; and so they returned 
back again. 

Thus commenced the first occupation and set- 
tlement of New England, and from which date, 
the title of England to the new world was main- 
tained.^ 



1. The charter of De Monts was revoked by the King, in 1G07, on 
account of the intense jealousy of his rivals. This loss of title by the 
French, allowed the English charter of April 10, 1G06, to take prece- 
dence of all French grants. 

In all subsequent contests with rival nations, the Dutch and the 
French, the occupation by the Popham colony, in 1607, was put forward 
as the ground of title. In 1632, the Dutch West India Company, in 
their address to the States' General, under date of May 5th, say : 

" In the year 1G06, liis Majesty of Great Britain granted to his sub- 
jects under the names of New England and Virgina, north and south 
of the river, (Manhattoes,) on express condition that the companies 
should remain one hundred miles apart. Whereupon the English began 
about the year 1607 to settle by the river of Sagadahoc. The English 
place New England between 41" and 45° of north latitude." 

Holland Doc, N. Y., p. 51. 

6 



42 



This act of formal possession of the country 
under their charter, August 29, 1607, was the con- 
summation of England's title to New England, and 
tlie foundation of her future greatness, and the day 

The Dutch contended that they had the right to occupy the one 
hundred miles, reserved by the charter as open territory. 

Count De Tillieres, French Ambassador, writing to Secretary Conway, 
under date of April, 1624, admits the claim of England to Virginia and 
to the Gulf of Mexico, south five hundred leagues ; but denies all right 
north. In answer to Tillieres, the charter of King James, in 1606, 
to the two companies is quoted to show that the claim of both is equally 
valid. 

Calender of Colonial State Papers, i. p. 60. 

In 1631, Champlain, in his great Memoir to the King, giving a state- 
ment of he rival claims of the French and English, says : 

" King James issued his charter twenty-four years ago, for the country 
from the 33d" to the 45tli'^. England seized the coast of New France, 
where lies Acadia, on which they imposed the name of New England." 

French Doc. N. Y., vol. ix, pp. 1 and 2. 

In 1630, September 9th, the Scotch adventurers addressed a letter to 
the King, from the Council of Scotland — those claiming title under the 
gi-ant to Sir William Alexander, afterwards Lord Stirling — in which they 
assert that " the planting of New England in the north," was by Chief 
Justice Popham. 

Cal. of Colonial State Papers, i., p. 119. 

In a work entitled "An Encouragement to Colonies," by William 
Alexander Knight, printed by William Stanly, London, 1625, it is 
said : 

" One of them. Sir John Popham, sent the first company that went, 
of purpose to inhabit there, near to Sagadahoc." p. 30. 

Capt. John Mason, writing to Sir Edward Coke, Secretary of State, 
under date of April 2, 1632, says : 

" Plantations in New England have been settled about twenty-five 
years." London Doc, N. Y., vol. iii, p. 16. 

In the work of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, grandson of the original pro- 
prietor of Mayue, entitled " A Description of New England, — America 
Painted to the Life," published in Loudon, in 1659, he says : 

" New England is between 41*^ and 45° of north latitude. In 1606, 
the country began to be possessed by the English by public authority. 



43 



should l)e observed as an epocii wherever there ex- 
ists a community, who enjoy the common law of 
England, or speak our mother tongue. 

This charter, of April 10, 1606, was "/or the 
planting of colonies or plantations in North America!' 
It placed the power in a council of thirteen.^ To 
encourage competition, and excite rivalry, it pro- 
vided for the planting of two distinct and separate 
colonies, each having a local government, of north 
and south Virginia, the former subsequently known 
as the Plymouth, the latter as the London Com- 
pany ; each company not to colonize or establish a 
plantation within one hundred miles of each other. 
Neither Gorges or the Chief Justice had their 
names inserted, for fear of exciting, as it would 
seem, the jealousy of rivals. Eight persons only 



* * * * A peninsula at the mouth of the river Sagadahoc, where 
they built a fortress, which they named St. George." p. 18. 

Sir Jolin Popbam was ridiculed in his time for his eflbrts to plant col- 
onies in America. 

" Chief Justice Popham not only punished malefactors, but provided 
for them, and llrst set up the discovery of New England, to maintain 
and employ those, that could not live honestly in the Old.-^ 

Lloyd's State Worthies, p. 46. 

1. The King ordained a Council, called the Council of Virginia, 
November 20, 1006, consisting of the following persons : 

Sir William Wade, Sir Thomas Smith, 

Sk Walter Cope, Sir George More, 

Sir Francis Popham, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 

Sir John Trevor, Sir Henry Montague, 

Sh- William Romney, John Doddridge, 

Thomas Warr, John Eldred, 

Thomas James, James Bagg. 

The records of this company have never been published. It is hoped 
that the elibrt now making to recover them, will yet prove successful. 



44 



were named in the charter ; four for each colony, 
who might be expected to join tlie expeditions. 

The history of this Popham Colony is very im- 
perfectly known. They called their settlement 
'^Fort St. George ;" the remains of which are still in 
existence ; from which place, George Popham writes 
to King James, under date of Dec. 13, 1607, in the 
Latin language, in which he says : " My well con- 
sidered opinion is, that in these regions the glory 
of God may be easily evidenced, the empire of 
your Majesty enlarged, and the welfare of Great 
Britain speedily augmented." 

They finished their vessel, of fifty tons, in 
' the winter and spring, called the Virginia, of 



Sagadahoc, in which they returned to England 
that year. They lost their governor, George Pop- 
ham, during the winter, who died February 5, 
1608. Captain Gilbert, who succeeded to the com- 
mand, was compelled to return, to settle the estate 
of his brother, Sir John Gilbert, who had deceased, 
and to whose estate he was heir. Added to these, 
the death in England of the venerable Chief 
Justice Popham, who died June 10, 1607, and the 
terrible severity of the winter through which they 
had passed, threw discouragements in their way, 
which they had not the courage to surmount. 

This was the critical period in the history of the 
English race, in the new world. Both France and 



45 



England were claiming title. The occupation of 
the territory could alone determine the rights of 
the parties. Poutrincourt, inflamed with all the 
zeal of the Catholic faith, kept his hold on Acadia, 
and returning to France, with De Monts, in 1607, 
obtained from him a grant of Port Eoyal. He 
came out at the instance of the Kinor, with a 
new grant, in 1610, with Fathers Biard and 
Masse, and being free from the annoyance of the 
Huguenots, he despatched his son Biancourt to 
France, to bring further recruits to his Colony. 
The flower of their youth were cheerfully engaged 
for this service, from all the Jesuit Colleges of 
France. 

As they were about to embark for Acadia, the 
merchants of Dieppe, who had furnished the sup- 
plies for the ship, refused the Jesuits admission on 
board, on account of their religion, so strong was 
the Protestant faith at that time in France. 

The zealous and elevated Madame de Guerch- 



ifiii 

ville, moved to anger by this refusal of the mer- 
chants, raised the entire sum required for the voyage 
by contributions among the Catholic nobility, and 
despatched Biancourt, and his Jesuit missionaries, 
who arrived at Port Royal just in time to save 
Poutrincourt and his party from starvation. Mean- 
while Champlain had in 1608 laid the foundation 
of Quebec, and held actual possession of the St. 
Lawrence under a new charter. 



46 



Emboldened by the breaking up of Popliam's 
Colony, at Sagadahoc, the French pushed forward 
their possessions, claiming the territory as far south 
as Cape Cod, Gorges knew the importance of 
maintaining possession of the country, and while 
" all Ids associates gave up to these discouragements^' his 
heroic spirit, so far from yielding, rose with the oc- 
casion that demanded still greater sacrifices; and, 
as he says, " Finding I could no longer be seconded 
by others, I became an owner of a ship myself, fit 
for that employment, and under color of fishing 
and trade, I got a master and company for her, to 
which I sent Vines and others, my own servants, 
appointing them to leave the ship and ship's com- 
pany for to follow their business in the usual places. 
By these and the help of those natives, formerly 
sent over, I came to be truly informed, of so much 
as gave me assurance, that in time, I should want 
no undertakers, though as yet, I was forced to hire 
men, to stay there ; the winter quarters, at extreme 
rates," &c.^ 

We may therefore fiiirly claim that the occupan- 
cy of Vines and others under Gorges, saved the 
country from falling into the hands of the French. 
We find the English at Pemaquid in 1608 and 1609.^ 
Thither the Virginia Colony sent annually for fish, 

1. Gorges' Briefe Narration. 
'2. Kelatious Des Jesuites. 



47 



from 1608 and onward. Sir Francis Popham, tlie 
son of the Chief Justice, continued to send his ships 
to Pemaquid, and the same ship was found there 
by Capt. John Smith, on his first visit to the coast^ 
in 1614. 

Belknap says, that Vines came over a long time 
before the settlement at Plymouth, and the author- 
ities concur in fixing it in 1609. Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, though he does not name the year, speak- 
ing of events in the order of their occurrence, 
places the settlement of Vines before the voyage 
of Hobson, and tradition has assigned to Vines the 
honor of holding Pemaquid, Monhegan and Saga- 
dahoc, from 1609, till he removed to Saco, where 
he spent the winter of 1616-17. 

Capt. Hobson came over as early as 1611. Gorges 
says in connection with this voyage, " for some years 
together, nothing to my private profit was realized, 
for what I get one way, I spent another." 

In 1613, Argall, from the Virginia Colony, 
on visiting the coast for fish, learned that the 
French had a trading house at Penobscot, and a 
settlement at Mount Desert, or St. Saviour, another 
at St. Croix, and one at Port Royal. After procur- 
ing a sufficient force, he broke up these posts, and 
destroyed St. Saviour and Port Royal, carrying the 
Jesuits and some of their adherents to Virginia as 
prisoners, many of the French settlers fled to the 
woods, but returned and re-occupied the places thus 



48 



laid waste by Argall.^ French fishing and trading 
ships were constantly visiting these ]3laces. 

In June, 1614, Capt. Henry Harley, one 
of Popham's Colony at Sagadahoc, sailed in 
Gorges' employ with Assacumet, one of those na- 
tives first taken by Weymouth, and the famous In- 
dian Epenow, of Martha's Vineyard, who proposed 
to show them valuable mines of gold. He was as 
Gorges says, " a person of goodly stature, strong 
and well proportioned," but he escaped from them 
as soon as they came to the coast, and the expedi- 
tion was productive of no useful results. 

It is not necessary to narrate all the events con- 
nected with the expeditions to the country, prior 
to 1614, when the eccentric but intrepid Captain 
John Smith appeared on the coast, in command of 
four ships. 

This venture of Smith paid a profit of £1,500, 
" by traffic in otter and beaver skins, salt fish, train 
oil and such other like gross commodities." Smith 
at this time, made a plot or map of the country, 
since known as Smith's map of New England, pub- 
lished in 1616, and he was made Admiral of New 
England by the Company. 

In 1615, Smith sailed again for New Eng- 
land, in two ships, which voyage proved dis- 
astrous. He lost his masts in a gale, returned to 

1. See note on page 19. Also Appendix B. 



49 



Plymouth, and again sailing, was taken prisoner by 
the French. One of the vessels, however, in com- 
mand of Capt. Dermer, made its way to New Eng- 
land, and returned well laden.^ 

In the same year, Sir Richard Hawkins, 

1G16 • ./ ^ y 

President of the Plymouth Company, departed 
for these parts, and took in a cargo for Spain, prin- 
cipally fish, which proved a profitable business. In 
1616, eight ships from London and Plymouth made 
profitable voyages to New England, and the value 
of the fisheries of Monhegan was fully established. 
There can be no doubt, that Monhegan was occu- 
pied with a trading, though changing, population, 
many years before Plymouth was settled, and when 
Edward Winslow, of the Plymouth flock, visited 
it, in May, 1622, as he says, '■Ho obtain victuals for our 
famishing plantation',' he found there thirty ships. 
He also says, " I fi^und there, kind entertainment, 
and good respect ; with a willingness to supply our 
wants ; through provident and discreet care, we 
were recovered, and preserved, till our own crop in 
the ground was ready." 

Such was the condition of New Eno-land 

1 ftl ft 

affairs in 1616, befi^re war had broken out 
among the Indian tribes, pestilence destroyed the 
native population, or the Pilgrim settlement been 
initiated. The country was well known along the 

1. See Appendix C. 



50 



coast, from the Bay of Fundy to Cape Cod, and 
the fisheries yielded abundant profit. 

It was comparatively full of people, a native 
population, subsisting not only on game and the 
products of the soil, but on oysters, salmon, and 
the choicest fish, in which the harbors, rivers and 
coves abounded. 

The territory, now known as the State of Maine, 
with its numerous and well sheltered harbors; its 
noble rivers, swarming with the most valuable fish; 
its forests, of unrivaled beauty, surpassing, in the 
estimation of the navigators, those of the north of 
Europe ; its soil, bearing readily the choicest grains 
of Europe, in addition to Indian corn, and the 
potato, indigenous to this continent; the charm- 
ing variety of scenery; its undulating surface; its 
climate, that for healthfulness and salubrity, left 
nothing to desire; attracted the most skilful of the 
European voyageurs to its shores. 

The region lying between Cape Porpoise (Ken- 
nebunk) and the Penobscot, was the most frequent- 
ed of all, for it is by far the most beautiful portion 
of New England, and the possession of it excited 
the ambition of the French and English alike. 

It was the seat of Indian Empire, more populous 
than any portion of the Continent, the home of the 
Bashaba, whose authority extended to Narragansett 
Bay. 



51 



The Indians always occupied the best portions of 
the Continent until driven from them by superior 
force, as seen in our day in the case of the Chero- 
kees and Choctaws, of the South, and the Penob- 
scots of our own State. The French were the first 
to perceive this great fact, and their possessions fol- 
lowed closely the grounds held by the Indians. We 
have not time to pursue this inquiry, but we haz- 
ard nothing in predicting, that the seats of Empire 
on this Continent, of the European races, will event- 
ually coincide, with those of the aboriginal inhab- 
tants. 

The coast was at that time well delineated on 
maps in common use ; the Dutch had a flourishing 
Colony on the Hudson river, and on the same day 
that John Smith was exhibiting to Prince Charles, 
for his approval of the names upon it, his map of 
New England, the Dutch Figurative map of New 
Netherlands, extending east to the Penobscot, was 
laid before the States General for their inspection 
and adoption. The early navigators saw nothing 
inviting between Cape Cod and Manhattan, while 
all the harbors east *of Cape Porpoise, were filled 
with voyage urs from the Old World. 

In 1602, when Gosnold came to New England, 
the Indians, clothed in Indian apparel, visited his 
ships without any signs of surprise, as at Pema- 
quid in 1607, the aborigines came fearlessly on 
board the vessels of Popham and Gilbert; and the 



52 



famous Indian Sagamore Samoset, went from Pem- 
aquid to greet the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in March, 
1621, with hearty welcome in their own language, 
" Welcome, Welcome, Englishmen^' said Samoset, and 
proved his friendship to the end of his life. The 
welcome of Samoset was sincere, because the In- 
dian tribes, who valued goodly rivers, fertile fields, 
and abundant forests, as the best hunting grounds, 
felt no jealousy of men who sought a resting place 
on the barren and deserted sands of Cape Cod ; — 
where the native population had been swept off by 
the plague. And the French looked with equal 
indifference on that feeble band of fishermen whose 
location at Plymouth in no way interfered with 
their plans of dominion in the new world. 

About this time, 1616, a bloody war broke 
out between the Tarratines, who lived east 
of the Penobscot, supposed to be incited to it by the 
Erench, and the Bashaba of Pemaquid. He was 
slain, and his people destroyed. At the same time, 
a devastating pestilence swept off the Indian race 
without injuring the whites. Gorges says, " Vines 
and the rest with him, that live in the cabins with 
these people that died, not one of them ever felt 
their heads to ache." 

The year 1616 brings us to what may be called 
the Pilarrim Period ; for at this time were initiated 
those measures that resulted in what Mr. Webster 
called the first settlement of New England. 



53 



The history of the times would disprove the pop- 
ular theory, that " religious impulse accomplished 
the early settlement of New England ;" b}^ which 
is meant the settlement therein of the Pilgrims. 
But the plan of colonizing America did not origin- 
ate with them, nor were they in any sense the 
leaders of the movement. They resorted thither 
from necessity, and while they profited by the la- 
bors and enterprise of others, achieved nothing be- 
yond those in a subordinate position. 

The settlement of New England was the work 
of many years, and was achieved by the same in- 
fluences as those still at work, to extend the Saxo- 
Norman race. It was the legitimate result of the 
commercial ideas and adventurous spirit of the 
times. 

The Protestant faith was struggling to maintain 
its foothold in the British Isles in the reigns of 
Henry VIII., of Edward VI., and of Mary, and not 
till the reign of Elizabeth was it fully established. 
This consummation gave internal repose to the 
nation, and allowed the spirit of enterprise to ex- 
pand and ripen. This spirit sought employment 
in the new world, and drew from Elizabeth the 
earliest charters. 

The English Puritans exhibited the restless spirit 
of change that had grown up in the English char- 
acter, under the influence of the last fifty years ; 
and not in the reign of the despotic Queen, but in 



54 



the reign of the weak James, those who had not 
property, or Court favor, naturally preferred a life 
of adventure with the hopes of profit, or prefer- 
ment in a new country. 

It was the age of private enterprise, and of in- 
tellectual freedom. The East India Company was 
laying the foundation of English empire in the 
East, while the Council of Virginia was planting 
the seeds of a more glorious dominion over the 
wilds of nature in the West. The same spirit that 
has filled the valley of the Mississippi and the Pa- 
cific shore, with natives of New England and of 
Europe, within the last fifty years, led to the first 
emigrration to America. 

That " religious impulse" led the followers of 
Robinson to Leyden, in 1C08, is, undoubtedly, 
true, but religious persecution in England soon 
ceased, and no one there suffered death, for that 
cause, after 1611. The forms of the church service 
were as harmless then as now, and were originally 
adopted, after long debate, by a majority of one 
only, in a full convention of the English Clergy, in 
the reign of Elizabeth.^ The articles of the church 
were Calvinistic, and in no wise differed in doc- 
trines from those of the Puritans. 

Elizabeth was a far greater stickler for observ- 
ance of church ceremonies than any one of her suc- 

1. Sanford's History of the Great Rebellion, p. 67. 



cessors. But the Leyden flock did not leave Eng- 
land in her reiscft. 

It is time to vindicate the truth of history ; tO' 
do justice to the claims of Gorges, and to repel the 
calumnious charges of the men who founded the 
Theocracy of New England ] who j^ersecuted alike 
Quakers, Baptists, and Churchmen. Fifty years 
after the putting of men to death for errors of doc^ 
trine had ceased, in Old England, from which the 
Massachusetts Puritans pretended to have fled " for 
conscience sake," they executed men of the most 
blameless lives for the slightest differences of opin- 
ion, or doctrine, in religion. On finding that Bap- 
tists and Quakers and Churchmen were only mul- 
plied the more, by this means, as persecution grew 
more severe, they finally passed a statute, that Qua- 
kers should be treated as vagabonds, whijDped from 
town to town by the Magistrates, till driven beyond 
the boundaries of the Colony. In point of fact, 
within the boundaries of the Colony of Massachu- 
chusetts Bay, from the time they first landed, till 
the arrival of Sir Edmund Andros as Governor in 
1686, the Government of Massachusetts Bay, was 
more arbitrary and intolerant than any despotism 
from which they fled from England. Stripes, im- 
prisonment and even death itself were inflicted, on 
those who regarded baptism as a sacrament, fit only 
to be administered to those capable of understand- 
ing its import. The banishment of Wheelwright 



56 



and others for antinomian heresy and his escape 
into Maine, show the character of "the times. 

The Plymouth flock, a portion of those whom 
Robinson had gathered at Leyden, were an amiable 
and pious people. They gladly sought the protec- 
tion of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the founder of the 
New England Company, jarior to their removal from 
Holland, came out in view of his promise of a char- 
ter, from whom they obtained it in 1621. 
But they never, in fact, exerted any consider- 
able political influence on the history of the Con- 
tinent. 

The Colony of Massachusetts Bay, on the other 

hand, was guided by the boldest set of adventurers 

that ever set foot on American soil. The fathers 

of this Colony, who first met in Nottinghamshire, 

1627, and those who led the way afterwards, were 

men whom Charles had imprisoned for their too 

great freedom of speech in the House of Commons, 

and who gladly escaped to America to avoid a worse 

fate at home. 

Sir Ferdinando Gorges readily o-ave them 
1629 

■ a charter, March 19, 1629. They came over 

the same year. One condition, as Gorges says, 
of the, grant was, that it should not be prejudi- 
cial to the previous grant to his son, Robert Gorges, 
made in 1622, then in the actual occupation of his 
grantees. But writing secretly to Endicott, their 
first Governor, under date of April 17, 1629, "the 



57 



Governor and Deputy of the New England Com- 
pany for a plantation in Massachusetts Bay," resid- 
ing in England, advise him, that Mr. Oldham had 
become the grantee of Robert Gorges, and that the 
Rev. Mr. Blackstone and Mr. Wm. Jeffreys had been 
duly authorized to put Oldham in possession of the 
premises, yet they held it void in law, and advised 
that " they should take possession of the chiefe part 
thereof," and thus destroy the value of the grant 
previously given to Gorges. This was done, and 
Gorges' grantees w^ere driven out — a fair speci- 
men of the sense of justice of that Company. , To 
mislead the people of England, 'as to their true de- 
signs, after leaving England, while on ship-board, 
they publicly requested the prayers of the English 
Church, for their success in planting "the Protestant 
faith in America." But on landing, they forcibly 
expelled the two brothers Brown, who came over 
highly recommended by the Company in London, 
and against all protestations and reason they were 
sent back to England by the first vessel that re- 
turned, because they absented themselves from their 
meeting on the Sabbath. These men, in the pri- 
vacy of their ow^n chamber, were guilty of follow- 
ing in their devotions, the form of the English 
Liturgy. For this they were driven out of the 
country. 

The Massachusetts Bay Company sent their char- 
ter with the great seal of the King to America, to 



58 



render its recall the more difficult ; and when it 
was subsequently vacated by writ of quo tmrranto, 
refused to comply with the order of Court for its 
return. The disputes at home which resulted in 
the beheading of Charles and the Revolution of 
1688, in England, alone saved the leaders and their 
followers from punishment. The Royal Charter, 
uniting the Colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts 
Bay, the Province of Maine, and all the territory 
east of it, under the Governorship of Sir William 
Phipps, a native of Pemaquid, put an end to the 
Theocracy of New England in 1691. 

The modern popular history of New England, 
has sought to conceal the exact truth, and to throw 
apology over the grossest offences. 

Those who trust to such early writers as the Cot- 
tons, the Mathers and Hubbards of former days, on 
whom the modern historians of Massachusetts seem 
mainly to rely, may find abundant means of cor- 
recting their opinions. 

We may, at this time, venture to speak of these 
men as they deserve. The accurate and accom- 
plished historian of Rhode Island, in his recent his- 
tory, speaking of the Massachusetts historians, just- 
ly says : — 

" The opinions of men who maligned the purity 
of Williams, of Clarke, and of Gorton, who bore 
' false witness' to the character and the acts of some 
of the wisest and best men who ever lived in New 



59 



England ; who strove to blast the reputation of peo- 
ple whose liberal views they could not comprehend; 
who collected evidence to crush the good name of 
their more virtuous opponents by casting upon 
them the odium of acts wherein they were them- 
selves the guilty parties ; who committed outrages 
in the name of God, far more barbarous than the 
worst with which they ever charged ' the usurper ;' 
the opinions of such men, we say, are not to be re- 
ceived without a challenge." — \_Arnold's History/ of 
Rhode Island. Vol. I. p. 514. 

The impartial and graphic Macauley, thus de- 
scribes the Puritans of that day : — 

" The persecution which the separatists had un- 
dergone, had been severe enough to irritate, but 
not severe enough to destroy. They had not been 
tamed into submission, but bated into savageness, 
and stubborness. After the fashion of oppressed 
sects, they mistook their own vindictive feelings for 
emotions of piety; encouraged in themselves in 
reading and meditation, a disposition to brood over 
their wrongs, and when they had worked them- 
selves up into hating their enemies, imagined that 
they were only hating the enemies of Heaven. In 
the New T-estament there was little indeed which, 
even when perverted by the most disingenuous ex- 
position, could seein to countenance the indulgence 
of malevolent passions. But the Old Testament 
contained the history of a race selected by God, to 



60 



be witnesses of his wrath and ministers of his ven- 
geance, and especially commanded by him to do 
many things which, if done without his special com- 
mand, would have been atrocious crimes. In such 
a history, it was not difficult for fierce and gloomy 
spirits to find much that might be distorted to suit 
their wishes. The extreme Puritans, therefore, be- 
gan to feel for the Old Testament a preference, 
which, perhaps, they did not distinctly avow, even 
to themselves ; but which showed itself in all their 
sentiments and habits. They paid to the Hebrew 
language a respect which they refused to that 
tongue in which the discourses of Jesus, and the 
Epistles of Paul, have come down to us. They 
baptized their children by the names, not of chris- 
tian saints, but of Hebrew patriarchs and warriors. 
In defiance of the express and reiterated declara- 
tions of Luther and Calvin, they turned the weekly 
festival by which the church had from the primitive 
times, commemorated the resurrection of her Lord, 
into a Jewish Sabbath. They sought for principles 
of jurisprudence in the Mosaic law, and for prece- 
dents to guide their ordinary conduct, in the books 
of Judges and Kings. Their thoughts and dis- 
courses ran much on acts which were assuredly 
not recorded as examples for our imitation. The 
prophet who hewed in pieces a captive King, the 
rebel general who gave the blood of a Queen to the 
dogs, the matron, who, in defiance of plighted faith. 



61 



and of the laws of Eastern hospitality, drove the 
nail into the brain of the fugitive ally who had 
just fed at her board, and who was sleeping under 
the shadow of her tent, were proposed, as models, 
to Christians, suffering under the tyranny of princes 
and prelates." — \_MacauIeys Ristor?/ of England. Vol 

The most odious features of Puritan intolerance 
were developed in Massachusetts, with the rise of 
that party to power in England, and when the Com- 
monwealth passed away at home, the weak coun- 
sels of the Stuarts were unable to control the people 
of New England. We find the Massachusetts Pu- 
ritans persecutors from the outset of their career, 
denying the rights of citizenship to all but actual 
church members, and refusing to others protection 
even against the Indians. When the first New 
England league was formed in 1643, for better pro- 
tection against savage warfare the Delegates of 
Maine were excluded because they were Church- 
men, and those of Rhode Island, because they were 
Baptists.^ 

The settlement of Plymouth is clearly due to 
an act of Sir Ferdinando Gorges. His aim .from 
the first was the settlement of the country, not 
advantage to himself. He sought, by putting 
other men prominently forward, and in every 

1. Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantatiou, p. 410. 
Brodhead's History of New York, pp. 361, 302. 



62 



other way to disarm the jealousy that always fol- 
lows upright public action. As Gorges says, " the 
planting of Colonies in America, was undertaken 
for the advancement of religion, the enlargement 
of the bounds of our nation, the increase of trade, 
and the employment of many thousands of all sorts 
of people." The grant obtained on his request, 
says, " was never intended to he converted to private uses" 
and in answer to the Commons, who sought to ab- 
rogate his charter, he publicly oftered to surrender 
it ; " not only in behalf of himself, but of the rest 
of those interested in the Patent, so they would 
prosecute the settling of the plantation as was first 
intended." " Wherein," he said, " we would be 
their humble servants in all that lay in our power, 
without looking to the great charge that had been 
expended in the discovery and seizure of the coast, 
and bringing it to the pass it was come unto." 

This was " after they had found by our constant 
perseverance therein, some profit by a course of 
fishing upon that coast." 

All writers agree, that after 1616, the New Eng- 
land Fisheries were successful and profitable to the 
English. 

At this time, or prior to March 1617, Gorges, in 
pursuance of his policy of settling the country, in- 
vited the Leyden church to emigrate to America. 
He says, "before the unhappy controversy happened 
between those of Virginia and myself, they were 



63 



forced, through the great charge they had been at, 
to hearken to any propositions, that might give 
ease and furtherance to so hopeful a business. For 
that purpose it was referred to their consideration, 
how necessary it was that means might be used to 
draw into those enterprises some of those famihes that 
had retired themselves into Holland for scruple of 
conscience, giving them such freedom and liberty 
as might stand with their likings. This advice 
being hearkened unto, there were, that undertook 
the putting it in practice and accordingly brought 
it forth," &c. " Such as their weak fortunes were 
able to provide," and they " with great difficulty 
recovered the coast of New England," &c., &c. 

The Council of Virginia still held the country 
under the original charter of 1606, and it was the 
work of Gorges to draw the Leyden flock to Amer- 
ica. Bradford says, "they liked not the idea of 
going South." They had confidence in the success 
of Gorges' plan of a separate charter for New Eng- 
land. 

The Leyden flock early saw that they must soon 
become extinct if they remained in Holland. They 
could not remain longer in that country, or return 
to England to reside. They had little or no means 
of support, and trusted to the chances of obtaining 
it, in the new employment of fishing and trading 
to New England, then so popular at home. Robert 
Cushman and John Carver were sent to the King, 



64 



asking permission to " enjoy liberty of conscience 
in America, where they would endeavor the ad- 
vancement of His Majesty's dominions, and the en- 
largement of the gospel." "This," his Majesty King 
James said, " was a good and honest motive," and 
asking " what profit might arise in the part we in- 
tended, (the most northern parts of Virginia,") 'twas 
answered " Fishing." " So God have my soul," said 
James, " 'tis an honest trade, 'twas the Apostles own 
calling." Winslow says, " some one of the Plymouth 
Colony lent them £300 gratis, for three years, 
which was repaid." Winslow further says, "some 
of the chief of the Plymouth Company doubted not 
to obtain our suit of the King, for liberty in reli- 
gion." Bradford says, " some others wrought with 
the Archbishop, and they prevailed in sounding his 
Majesty's mind, that he would connive at them, and 
not molest them, provided they carried themselves 
peaceably." ^ 

A still greater difficulty remained, the raising of 
money for the expedition. This was finally done 
through Mr. Thomas Weston, a merchant of Lon- 
don, who with others, 70 in all, " some gentlemen, 
some merchants, some handicraftsmen ; some ad- 



1. The date of their application was in 1618, as appears by the fol- 
lowing : 

1618. Seven articles which the Church of Leyden sent to the Coun- 
cil of England to be considered of, in respect of their judgments, occa- 
sioned about their going to Virginia. Endorsed " Copy of Seven arti- 
cles sent unto the Council of England by the Brownists of Leyden." 
[Calendar of Colonial Papers. Vol. I. p. 21. 



66 



venturing great sums, some small, as their estates 
and affections served." By the hard conditions 
agreed to, the whole Ley den Company, adventured 
their persons, as well as their estates, Hutchinson 
says, " they had no notion of cultivating any more 
ground than would afford their own necessary pro- 
visions, but proposed that their chief secular em- 
ployment should be, commerce with the natives." 
It was a trading Company, not designing a com- 
munity of goods, but a fair adventure in business. 
Any idea of founding a Colony or of remaining in 
the country beyond the seven years of their part- 
nership, no where appears in their earlier move- 
ments or writings. 

Having made up their minds to emigrate from 
Holland, they formed a partnership for seven years, 
to pursue fishing and traffic in the new world. 
They then applied to the Council of Virginia for a 
charter. Bradford says, "by the advice of some 
friends, the Patent was not taken in the name of 
any of their own Company, but in the name of Mr. 
John Wincob, a religious gentleman, belonging to 
the Countess of Lincoln, who intended to go with 
them." ^ 

The statement explains fully the relations of the 
parties. This Countess of Lincoln had the most 
intimate relations with the New England settle- 
ments. Some of her cliildren afterwards emigrated 

1. Bradford's History of Plimouth Plantation, p. 41. 

9 



66 



to America, and her daughter Frances was at that 
time the wife of John Gorges, the eldest son and 
heir of Sir Ferdinando. 

Their departure from Deft Haven, their arrival 
in England, and their trials in getting to sea, have 
been narrated with a minuteness and particularity 
that leaves nothing unsaid, and the voyage of the 
Mayflower is as famous as that celebrated one of 
ancient times, in quest of the Golden Fleece. 

Capt. Smith says the Brownists found his chart 
or map " cheaper than his employment as a pilot," 
and with that in their hands they sailed to New 
England and sought Milford Haven, conspicuously 
laid down in it, now Cape Cod Harbor. Here they 
came to anchor, and sought New Plymouth, the 
precise spot designated on Smith's map, four years 
before. 

When the Pilgrims sailed. Gorges had not ob- 
tained the charter for New England. On the re- 
turn of the Mayflower, they sent to Gorges for their 
charter. In speaking of it, he says : — 

" They found that the authority they had from 
the Company of Virginia could not warrant their 
abode in that place ; '"^ * They hastened away 
their ship with orders to their Solicitor to deal with 
me, to be a means, they might have a grant from 
the Council of New England's affairs, to settle in 
the place, — which was performed to their particu- 
lar satisfaction, and good content of them all." 



67 



Their Charter was dated, June 1, 1621, granting 
to John Pierce, a clothworker of London, and his 
associates : One hundred acres of land to each set- 
tler, with a nominal rent, commencing at the end 
of seven years, the termination of their partner- 
ship ; with liberal grants of land for pul^lic uses ; 
and also certain rights of hunting, fishing, &c. It 
did not profess to grant any civil rights, or con- 
fer on them the j)ower of making laws.^ In that 
respect it dijEFers from the charter granted to Rob- 
ert Gorges in 1622, which vested ample powers for 
governing the country by means of a Parliament, 
one branch, like the Commons of England chosen 
by the freeholders of New England, the other ap- 
pointed by authority of the Crown, with an Exec- 
utive under the name of Governor.^ 

In this Charter to Robert Gorges, we find the 
model, or pattern, of the British Colonial Govern- 
ments of later times. The division of the powers 
of Government into three branches was unknown 
to the Pilgrims, or to the Puritans for a long period, 
and this accounts for the despotic character of their 
governments. It was a quarrel in the General Court 
of Massachusetts about Mrs. Sherman's Pig, that led 
to the breaking up of the General Court and its 
division into two branches, in 1645.'^ 

1. This long lost Charter has been recovered, and is printed in full 
in vol. ii., 4th Series of Mass. Historical Coll. 

2. This Charter to Kol)ert Gorges is found in full, in Gorges' Briefe 
N'arration, p. 44, vol. ii., Maine Hist. Coll. 

3. This amusing story is found in Winthrop's Journal, vol. ii. p. 2C0. 



68 



The Pilgrim government at Plymouth, which con- 
tinued till the charter of William and Mary in 1692, 
never attained to the knowledge of a division of the 
Legislative power into two independent branches. 
Their government was through the church. 

The first charter granted to the Plymouth flock, 
came, therefore, from the original Council of Vir- 
ginia, who held at that time the entire country. 
Through Thomas Weston they had heard of the 
plan of Gorges for a separate grant of New Eng- 
land, and they sailed for North Virginia, trusting 
to Gorges for a grant. 

The petition of Gorges for the New England 
charter, was dated March 3, 1620. An order in 
Council was made July 23, 1620, directing the prep- 
aration of the new charter, and it passed, the seals, 
Nov. 3, 1620. In this charter it says : — 

" We have been humbly petitioned unto, by our 
trusty and well beloved servant. Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, Knight, Captain of our Fort and Island by 
Plymouth, and by certain the principal Knights 
and Gentlemen Adventurers' of the said Second 
Colonye, and by divers other Persons of Quality, 
who now intend to be their Associates divers of 
which have been at great and extraordinary charge, 
and sustained many losses in seeking and discover- 
ing a Place fitt and convenient to lay the Founda- 
tion of a hopeful plantation, and have years past, 
by God's assistance and their own Endeavors, taken 



69 



actual Possession of the Continent hereafter mentioned in 
our name and to our use as Sovereign Lord thereof^ and 
have settled already some of our people in places agreeable 
to their Desires in those places ; and in Confidence of 
prosperous Success therein, by the Continuance of 
God's Devine Blessing, and our Royall permission, 
have resolved in a more plentiful and effectual man- 
ner to prosecute the same."^ 

That Gorges had complete possession of the coun- 
try before the Plymouth people came over, is also 
shown by the complaints against him for a monop- 
oly in fishing. He had brought the country suf- 
ficiently into notice to attract thither the Pilgrim 
flock. 

To deny to Gorges, therefore, the glory of being 
the founder of New England because his own Colo- 
ny was overshadowed by that of Massachusetts Bay, 
is as unjust as it would be to deny to Columbus 
credit as the discoverer of America, and to assign 
the glory of it to Sebastian Cabot, simply because 
Cabot first discovered the main land of the Conti- 
nent seventeen months before it was seen by Co- 
lumbus. All fair minds agree, that it was the far- 
sighted' and gifted Genoese, wdio by inspiration, 
looked through the darkness of ages, forecast the 
future, and pointed the way for Cabot and Ves- 
pucci to the new world across the ocean, though his 
modesty permitted the name of another to be given 

2. See Appendix D. 



70 



to it, that of Cabotia, which for a time gained favor, 
yielding to that of America. Still more clearly 
than Columbus did the instinctive sagacity of Gor- 
ges foresee and predict the fruits of his own great 
endeavor, and beheld a rising State in America free 
from European control. And yet for the last thirty- 
nine years, or since Mr. Webster's great speech at 
Plymouth on the 22d of Dec, 1820, the truth of 
severe history has been overlooked, in admiration 
of the creations of his genius. 

As an Epic Poem, Mr. Webster's speech stands in 
the same relation to history as the Iliad of Homer 
or the ^'Eneid of Virgil. The war of the gods on 
Olympus, and the flight of Anchises, regarded at 
one time as historic truths, were just as real and 
true to history as Mr. Webster's description of the 
landing of the Pilgrims. 

Among all the achievements of Mr. Webster, 
there is nothing that shows his real greatness, so 
much as those efforts, by which, in the style and 
manner of the ancient historians, he embodies in 
an impressive form, the great facts and ideas that 
are supposed to govern human affairs. It is fair to 
apply to this composition the definition of ^' Classi- 
cal History," so clearly and beautifully expressed in 
his address before the New York Historical Society 
of Feb. 23, 1852. This Pilgrim speech is a true 
specimen of Classical History ; " not," as he says, 
^^ a memoir, or a crude collection of acts, occurren- 



71 



ces, and dates, it is a composition, a production^ 
which has unity of design, hke a work of statuary 
or of painting." As such, his Plymouth speech bears 
the impress of his creative mind. He transferred 
to the Plymouth Panorama a representation of the 
heroic achievements of Gorges, of Popham, and of 
Vines. 

Mr. Webster's poetry has been regarded as his- 
tory. But it is such history as are the writings of 
Livy, or the historic plays of Shakspeare. 
• The mission of the Poet precedes that of the 
historian, and the imaginary characters of a poetic 
mind continue for a while to walk the earth under 
the shadow of a great name. The Pilgrims have 
richly enjoyed this distinguished honor. 

The Hon. Edward Everett, evidently on the au- 
thority of Mr. Webster, says in his Plymouth speech, 
four years later, " This, the source of our being, the 
Birth Day of all New England, — this grand under- 
taking was accomplished on the spot where we now 
dwell." " A continent for the first time explored, a 
vast ocean traversed by men, women and children, 
voluntarily exiling themselves from the fairest por- 
tions of the Old World," &c. 

Modern historians of the Massachusetts school, 
have since then, taken these flights of poetic fancy 
for historic verities, and sought to elevate them 
into the dignity of history. They might as well 
insist, that a modern fourth of July oration was the 



72 



cause of our Revolutionary war, though uttered 
some years after that event had taken place. 

Regarded as a political event, the Plymouth set- 
tlement was not of the slightest consequence or 
importance. It neither aided or retarded the settle- 
ment of the country, and is of no moment except 
as the actors in that work were concerned, or those 
who claim thence their inheritance. As a tale of 
individual and personal heroism, in which patient 
resignation was mingled with superstitious confi- 
dence, it deserves sympathy and respect. But 
those who seek to give it political importance, con- 
found the Plymouth settlement with that of the 
Puritan Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay, two 
events as independent of each other in every re- 
spect as was the settlement of New Netherlands 
from that of Lord Baltimore, on the Chesapeake. 

The Pilgrims had at the outset no idea of found- 
ing a Colony. The idea may have been suggested 
to them by the language of the charter of June, 
1621. It is true, they dignified their head officer 
with the title of " Governor," a term formerly ap- 
plied to the head of any family or company. He 
had no civil authority whatever, and the fact that 
for the first seven years no records of any sort were 
kept, and not a scrap of written history made prior 
to 1627, shows how primitive were all their ideas 
of government and of property. 

Bradford began his history in 1630, and at a later 



73 



date, rejoicing over the downfall of the Bishops, in 
the days of the Commonwealth, he appends thereto 
the followinor comments : '• when I beo-an these 

O O 

scribbled writings, which was about the year 1630, 
and so peeced up at times of leasure, afterwards ; 
little did I think their downfall was so near," &c.^ 

The compact signed on board the Mayflower, 
under date of November 11, 1620, which has been 
eulogized as " the germ of republican freedom," 
was, as Bradford says, " a combination, occasioned 
partly by the discontented and mutinous speeches 
that when they come ashore, they would use their 
own libertie," &c.^ 

In 1632, the first records of Plymouth Colony 
were commenced, but they had before them the 
example of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, whose 
Records are of the same date as their settlement. 

The famous Capt. John Smith, a cotemporary, 
says, " about one hundred Brownists went to Ply- 
mouth, whose humorous ignorance caused them to 

1. Bradford's Histoi-y of Plimoutli, p. 6. 

2. Bradford thus explains the matter : — 

" I shall a little returne backe and begine with a combination made by 
them before they came ashore, being y« first foundation of their govern- 
mente in this place ; occasioned partly by y" discontented and mutinous 
speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall from them 
in ye ship. That when they came ashore they would use their own lib- 
ertie ; for none had power to command them ; the patente they had 
being for Virginia, and not for New-england, which belonged to an- 
other Government, with which y^ Virginia Company hud nothing to 
doe. And partly that such an acte by them done (this their condition 
considered) might be as flrme as any patent, and in some respects more 
sure." The form was as followeth. p. 81). 

10 



74 



endure a wonderful deal of misery, with infinite 
patience." 

It was under the charter given to John Wincob, 
and in the protection of the original Virginia Com- 
pany, with the map of Smith for their guide, they 
came to America, too poor to own their vessel, or 
to pay for the land they should here occupy, and 
yet these obligations were never repaid, or acknowl- 
edged. The representations of Mr. Everett and 
others would lead us to suppose, that the Pilgrims 
embarked for America across an unknown sea, to 
seek a resting place in thickest darkness of ignor- 
ance, like that deep mystery that shrouded the 
Atlantic, when the vessel of Columbus first turned 
its prow Westward from the Canaries, one hundred 
and twenty-eight years before. 

Oratory, painting and poetry, have brought their 
richest gifts to the Pilgrim altar, and raised this 
feeble band of unlettered men to the rank of states- 
men and heroes. The genius of Webster, the ora- 
tory of Everett, the industry of Bancroft, and the 
zeal of Palfrey, have not fkiled to offer incense to 
the pride of Massachusetts as the leading commu- 
nity of the Western world ; — and in their devotion 
to her, overlooked the great influences that for a 
whole generation, had been preparing the way, for 
the secure occupation of her soil. And they have 
too readily followed the authority of those partizan 
writers, whose zeal for their own cause, has out- 



76 



run their sense of justice. And historic truth de- 
mands that the view of the character of Gorges as 
drawn by the two latter, should be corrected by 
the light of more recently discovered information. 
Gorges' defence against the charge of having un- 
justly betrayed the Earl of Essex, refutes it alto- 
gether, and should dispel the prejudice that Mr. 
Palfrey's recent work is calculated to perpetuate- 
The long lost history of Bradford, recovered in 
1855, and published in 1856, since the first issue of 
Mr. Bancroft's earliest volumes, will, undoubtedly, 
lead to a modification of the views expressed by 
him as to the claims of Gorges. 

It seems strano-e that the Pilo-nms should have 
been advanced to the condition of heroes, while the 
services of Gorges, in a long and illustrious life of 
duty should have been overlooked and forgotten. 
But this is not difficult of explanation. By force of 
accident, not now needful to relate, the Colony of 
Massachusetts Bay, became the leading one of New 
England, and its population have always, beyond any 
other people, indulged their pride of ancestry. Mr. 
Webster easily sympathized with that spirit of Mass- 
achusetts that demanded for her the proud title of 
Parent Commonwealth. He enstamped on his time, 
beyond any man of this country, the impress of his 
own proud and heroic spirit. He inspired a love 
of country, a pride of home, a feeling of content- 
ment and satisfaction favorable to industry, to reli- 



76 



gious sentiment, and the accumulation of property. 
The industrial superiority of that State, the growth 
of the last thirty years, is largely due to the eleva- 
ted sentiments by him inspired. 

With the progress of refinement, and the in- 
crease of wealth in every civilized community, in 
every age, there is a tendency to exaggerate the 
past, to undervalue the present, and to question all 
anticipations for the future. As weary age looks 
at existing facts as the limit of human experience, 
the poetic mind encourages future hopes, reproduc- 
ing from the past, all the varied forms of beauty or 
grandeur that the page of romance has foreshadow- 
ed — and every cultivated community must have its 
classic and romantic age, demanding a correspond- 
ing history. It glories in after years in the fabled 
greatness of a remote, but heroic ancestry, till se- 
vere history dispels the poetic charm. 

The Egyptian tradition pointed in after years to 
the days of its earlier grandeur a thousand years 
before those of Manetho, the founder of the temple 
of Karnac, whose dynasty commenced thirty-four 
centuries before the Christian Era. The Grecian 
poets, of its more modern times, constantly dwelt 
on the fabled glories of the past, the age that pre- 
ceded the days of Homer and Hesiod, and the Ro- 
man orators in the proudest days of its luxurious 
civilization, pointed back to the foundation of Rome, 
whose fabled city was but the rudest structure of 



77 



savage life. England glories still in the crude in- 
stitutions of Alfred, while France with greater glory 
recounts the heroic deeds of Charlemagne. 

New England has had her days of hero worship, 
and brought her devout oflerings in the same spirit 
to the shrine of the Pilgrims, and raised them from 
the humble condition of artizans and laborers to the 
rank of founders of Empires, and the sentimental 
Mrs. Hemans, under the spell of Mr. AVebster's 
genius, has thrown the charms of her poetic fancy 
around the rude homes of its early settlers. 

All this is a pure myth. The war of the Gods 
on Olympus, and the mythic tales of the love of 
Sapho, are just as real. Had the Pilgrims landed 
on the rocky cliffs of Sagadahoc, of Donaquet, or of 
Pemaquid, the poetic fancy of Mrs. Hemans might 
have had the color of the truth. But to talk of 
" the rock bound coast" of Plymouth, amid the sands 
of Cape Cod, and of '''the giant branches" of the 
scrubby pines on the south shore of Massachusetts 
Bay, is simply a flight of fancy. " The bleak and 
death-like desolation of nature" which, as Mr. Ev- 
erett truly says, " met the eyes of the Pilgrims on 
their approach to land, are changed by the exuber- 
ant fancy of Mrs. Hemans into charming spots like 
those which the voyageurs had found in the rich 
forests, of that Norumbega, whose praises had been 
sung by John Milton. 

The beautiful retreats at Diamond Cove and 



78 



Pentecost Harbor, — the rich forests on the banks 
of the Penobscot, the Sheepscot and the Kennebec, 
had attracted thither numerous voyagers from 
the old world, before the Leyden Church had been 
gathered, under the charge of the pious Robinson. 

New England had all the attractions described 
by the early navigators answering the poetic de- 
scriptions of Mrs. Hemans. It had " good harbors, 
very good fishing, much fowl, noble forests, gal- 
lant rivers, and the land as good ground as any can 
desire." But this does not apply to the region 
where the Pilgrims made their home. 

Let every one read the poetic description of the 
landing of the Pilgrims by Mr. Webster, and study 
the picture of it by Sargent, with the simple history 
of Bradford in his hands, and he is lost in admi- 
ration, like that which the student of classic history 
feels, in the perusal of the works of the great mas- 
ter of Epic poetry. According to Bradford, they 
embarked at Deft Haven, July 21, 1620, sailed from 
Southampton, Aug. 5, put back twice, — persevered 
in their plans, and espied Cape Cod, Nov. 9, 1620, 
old style, and came to anchor in Cape Cod harbor, 
Nov. 11, 1620, and on the same day, signed their 
compact of Government, and chose or rather con- 
firmed, John Carver, Governor. 

Their ship remained at Cape Cod, till Dec. 25, 
1620, new style. Prior to this, Bradford, Standish 
and others, had explored the country, setting out 



79 



on the 16tli of Dec. On the 21st of Dec, they 
passed through Plymouth, and returned to the ship 
on the 24th. After much doubt and difficulty, and 
days of wandering, on Wednesday the oOth of Dec, 
they determined on their place of settlement. On 
the 4th of January, 1621, the}^ went first on shore, 
and began to cut timber for a house. The 31at/- 
floiver remained in the harbor till April 15. when 
she departed for England. Till then, a large por- 
tion of them lived on shipboard, and there is no ac- 
count of any distinct or specific act of landing. The 
winter was mild beyond example, and when Samo- 
set " the Sagamore of Moratiggon arrived, March 
26, he was stark naked, only a leather about his 
waist, with a fringe about a span long, or a little or 
more." Had the winter been as usual, or severe as 
that of 1607, when Popham wintered at Sagada- 
hoc, not a soul of them could have survived. 

Modern historians have accidentally fixed on the 
22d of December as the landing day of the Pil- 
grims, and they attempt to justify it by the state- 
ment of Bradford, that on that day, the explorers 
passed through Plymouth and pitched upon it as 
one spot, to be recommended for the settlement. 
But unfortunately for their accuracy, this day was 
the 21st, and the adoption of the 22d, is not justified 
by any fact whatever.^ 



1. "And this being the last day of ¥<= week, (Saturday, Dec. 19, n. s.) 
they prepared 'ther to keep y*^ Sabbath. On Munday they sounded y^ 



80 



The great misfortune of Gorges was, that, as a 
man of true honor, he was compelled to support the 
fortunes of the weak and decaying Stuart dynasty, 
to which he remained true to the last. He also 
suffered in his fortunes in not emigrating to Amer- 
ica. 

In a paper on file in the English State Paper 
Office, quoted in the recent volume of Mr. Fol- 
som, it is stated that Gorges came to New England 
with Mason in 1G19,^ but we find no confirmation of 

harbor, and founde it fitt for shipping ; and marched into y<^ land, and 
found diverse cornfeilds, and litle runing broolcs, a place (as tliey sup- 
posed) fitt for situation ; ^t least it was y^ best they could find, and y« 
season, and their presente necessitie, made them glad to accepte of it. 
So they returned to their shipp again with this news to ye rest of their 
people, which did much coniforte their harts. 

On y"^ 15, (25 n. s.) of Desem"", they wayed anchor to go to y« place 
they had discovered, and came within 2 leagues of it, but were faine to 
bear up againe ; buty'= 16 (26) day y« winde came faire, and they arrived 
safe in this harbor. And after wards tooke better view of y* place, 
and resolved wher to pitch their dwellings ; and y® 25 day (Jan. 4, 1621, 
n. s.) begane to erccte y*' first house for common use to receive them and 
their goods." — [BradforcVs History, pp. 88, 89. 

The above contains all that relates to the famous Landing of the Pil- 
grims on Plymouth Bock. The intelligent reader instinctively smiles 
at this recital, when he contrasts this simple statement, with the gorgeous 
decoration of the event by Mr. Webster. When the anniversary of the 
Landing of the Pilgrims was instituted, in 1769, the authors added eleven 
days for diflferencc of style, instead of ten the true difference. They 
fixed on Monday, the day " they sounded the harhor and marched into 
the land," as the one most deserving of commemoration. From this 
has grown the magnificent conception of the Landing of the Pilgrims ! 

1. 1674-5 March 

The title and case of Bohert Mason touching the province of New 
Hampshire in New England. 

Ao 1616 King James I. sends John Mason Esq. as Governor to New- 
foundland, who after remaining there two years was ordered to New 
England and with Sir Ferdinando Gorges made a voyage along the 
coast in 1619, account of which they furnisJied to liis Majesty. A" 
1620 the King grants by Charter to some of the nobility under thie title 
of the Council of New England the teritory called New England with 
divers privileges &c. 

Folsom's Catalogue, p. 12. 



81 



this statement, elsewhere. He was commissioned 
it is true, by the King as Governor of New Eng- 
land in 1637,^ but from the accidental loss of the 
ship in which he was to embark, he did not set sail 
for America. 

But he persevered in his great work, and lived 
to see in New England prosperous communities, 
and his Province of Mayne, the best governed of 
all. He not only established the Pilgrims at Ply- 
outh, but subsequently caused to be granted to 
them, a large and valuable tract of land on the 
Kennebec, with an enlargement of their Charter, 
January 13, 1629.^ Nova Scotia was also granted 
to Sir William Alexander afterwards Lord Stirling, 
in 1621. He established his son, Robert Gorges, by 
grant at Nahant and Boston, in 1622. After this 
he planted Agamenticus, and when Christopher 
Levett came over in 1623 for the purpose of fixing 
on a place of settlement, he found that Monhegan 
Pemaquid and Cape New^agan had been already 
taken up, and he selected the Peninsula of Ma- 
cheo;onne, now the site of the Citv of Portland, for 
himself There he built his house, and gave to 
what is now known as Fore River, his own name, 
calling it Levett's River. The Cape Anne settle- 
tlement was made in 1625, under a charter from 
Lord Sheffield, but not continued ; and finally, the 

1. See appendix F. 

2. Hazard, Vol. i. p. 208. 

11 



82 



Company of Massachusetts Ba}^ came over in 
1629, whose men of deed and daring finally over- 
run the whole of New England, and led Gorges to 
predict the final separation of their Government 
from that of the British Crown. He says, " some of 
the discreeter sort, to avoid what they found them- 
selves subject unto, made use of their friends to 
procure from the Council for the Afftxirs of New 
England to settle a Colony within their limits; to 
which it pleased the thrice-honored Lord of War- 
wick to write to me, then at Plymouth, to conde- 
scend that a Patent might be granted to such as 
then sued for it. Whereupon I gave my approba- 
tion so far forth as it might not be prejudicial to 
my son Robert Gorges' interests, whereof he had a 
Patent under the seal of the Council. Hereupon 
there was a grant passed as was thought reasona- 
ble ; but the same was after enlarged by his Maj- 
esty, and confirmed under the great seal of Eng- 
land, by the authority whereof the undertaking 
proceeded so effectually, that in a very short time 
numbers of the people of all sorts flocked thither 
in heaps, that at last it w^as specially ordered by 
the King's command, that none should be suffered 
to go without license first had and obtained, and 
they to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. 
So that what I long before prophesied, when I could 
hardly get any for money to reside there, was now 
brought to pass in a high measure. The reason of 



83 



that restraint was grounded upon the several com- 
plaints, that came out of those parts, of the divers 
sects and schisms, that were amongst them, all con- 
temning the public government of the ecclesiastical 
state. And it was doubted that they would, in short 
time, whollj^ shake off the royal jurisdiction of the 
sovereign magistrate."^ 

Gorges seems to have reached that conviction, 
common to our race, at this time, that it is capable 
of shaping its government to the wants of the peo- 
ple, and that Episcopalian or Puritan theology, can- 
not for any length of time, find cause of difference. 

He never persecuted; on the contrary, he wel- 
comed those whose escaped Puritan persecution in 
New England, or those who sought refuge from 
priestly domination at home. He granted lands in 
Maine to Rev. John Wheelwright and others, Avho 
fled from Massachusetts, first into New Hampshire, 
and then into Maine, banished on account of errors 
of doctrine; and was earlier than Rhode Island in 
the practical adoption of unlimited freedom of 
opinion. That he should have suffered in the esti- 
mation of the Puritans, and be denounced hj them 
in opprobrious terms for being a loyalist and a 
churchman, ought not at this time to diminish from 
the respect fairly due for his great services. 

But for Gorges, the western continent must have 
fallen under the dominion of Roman Catholic 

1. Briele Xarration,, p. ol. 



84 



France, and Celtic civilization would have changed 
its destiny ; for all New England was in possession 
of the French prior to 1606. They had secured 
the favor of the savages, and held the country 
from Cape Malabarre to the St Lawrence. They 
do not seem to have been aware of the voyages of 
Gosnold, of Pring, or of Weymouth, though fully 
alive to the danger that threatened their posses- 
sions by the planting of the colony of Popham, at 
Sagadahoc.^ 

With all the efforts of Gorges, the labors of the 
Puritans, and the zeal of the British race, from 
1606 to 1759, the French held twenty times the 
extent of the English territory on the continent, 
till the great struggle took place, one hundred 
years ago, on the Plains of Abraham, and the power 
of France passed from the continent forever. 

Compare the services of Gorges with those of 
Wolfe, and all will agree that the claims of the 
former far surpass in real magnitude those of the 
latter. Yet the name of Wolfe is immortal, while 

1. In a previous note, page 42, we have referred to the correspondence 

hetween the French Ambassador, Count De Tillieres, and the British 

government. In Gorges' Briefe Jfarration, he thus spealvs of this 

matter : 

" The French Ambassador made challenge of those territories granted 
us by the King, our sovereign, in the behalf of the King of France, his 
master, as belonging to his subjects, that l)y his authority were possessed 
thereof as a part of New France. To which I was commanded by the 
King to give answer to the Ambassador his claim, which was sent me 
from the Lord Treasurer, under the title of ie Memorial de Monsieur 
Seigneur le Conte de Tillieres, Ambassadeur jwur le Boy de France. 
Whereupon I made so full a reply (as it seems) there was no more heard 
of that their claim." P. 40. 



85 



that of Gorges is comparatively unknown. As the 
heroic soul of Wolfe was just ready to take its 
flight to the world of spirits, from the field of 
battle, as the light had faded from his vision, his 
ear caught the words, " They fly!" "They fly!" 
"Who fly," said the dying hero. "The French," 
said the attendant. " What, so soon," said Wolfe ; 
"then I die content;" and expired at the moment 
of victory. He knew that he had gained an un- 
dying fame. 

The glory accorded to Wolfe for the conquest of 
Canada followed at once, as the fruits of that vic- 
tory. But those like Columbus, or Gorges, who 
labor for their country, or for mankind in the less 
brilliant pursuits of peace, must wait the slow but 
ever faithful recorder of severe history, to do them 
justice. 

When Columbus in old age, worn out in the ser- 
vice of his adopted country, died amid poverty and 
neglect, they placed over his grave these words, 
" Columbus has given a new world to the kingdom 
of Castile and Leon." But alas for human pride, 
the fame of Columbus has arisen higher and hio-li- 
er year by year in the admiration of men, while 
the Empire of Spain has passed from the Continent 
of America, and a weak and decaying dynasty fills 
the throne of Ferdinand and Isabella. 

When Sir Ferdinando Gorges closed his life, in 
1647, his countrymen should have placed over his 



8() 



grave these words, " Gorges saved North America 
to England." Instead of this, a cloud of obloquy 
rested on his name in both countries ; at home be- 
cause he supported the monarchy, and in New Eng- 
land because he had not done homage to the Puri- 
tan Theocracy. And to this hour the meed of 
praise has been selfishly withheld. 

When GeorQ;e Popham. the able and accom- 

1608. 

plished Governor of the Colony at Sagadahoc, 

knew that the hour of his departure had come, he 
was consoled in the thought that his name would 
be imperishably connected with the history of New 
England, for he was the first of his race whose bones 
should be laid on American soil. Like Wolfe he 
says, " I die content, for my name will always be 
-associatecl with the first planting of the English 
race in the new world ; my remains will not be 
neglected away from the home of my fathers and 
my kindred." And yet to this hour, two hundred 
and fifty-two years from the time that Popham died, 
the place of his burial is unknown.-^ 

1. While these pages are going through the press, measures are in 
progress to commemorate the first settlement of New England, and to 
preserve the memory of the man who led hither the first English Colony. 

Congress haying made an appropriation for a Fort at the mouth of the 
Kennebec — the ancient Sagadahoc — the following correspondence, 
copied from the files of the War Office, shows the action of the Secre- 
tary of War in the matter, and the fitness of the name selected for the 
new Fort, which is called Fobt Popham : 

" To THE Hex. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War :— 
The undersigned, citizens of Maine, respectfully nHjuest that tlie new 



87 



Mr. Webster said, " the record of illustrious ac- 
tion is safely deposited, in the universal remem- 
brance of mankind," and while we admit the truth 
of this maxim, we" cannot forget that the record is 
rarely exhibited till the generations that knew their 
actors had passed away. Homer's words were not 
listened to in his life time, nor till history and even 
his birth-place were forgotten. He still lives, not in 
history, but in his own immortal writings. The 
greatest names of England, Milton and Cromwell, 
were a by-word and a reproach for years after their 
death. So it has been with the Father of English 

Fort to be erected at the mouth of the Keunebec rivei-, in Maine, maybe 
named Fort Popham, in honor of Capt. George Popham, brother of 
the learned Cliief Justice Popham, of England. 

Capt. George Popham, as the Governor of the first English Colony in 
New England, built a fort at or near the site of the proposed fort, in the 
year 1607, where he died, February 5, 1608, and was buried, being the 
first person of his race whose bones were laid beneath the soil of New 
England, and whose grave will be appropriately marked by the fort that 
rises over his place of burial. • 

(Signed) JOHN A. POOR. 

REUEL WILLIAMS. 

Washington, Nov, 18, 1861." 

This proposal for a name was favorably received at the Engineer Bu- 
reau, by Gen. Totten, who laid the matter before the Secretary of War. 

On the 23d of November, General Cameron acted on the foregoing 
Petition, and entered thereon : — " Name approved. 

SIMON CAMERON, Secretary of War. 

Wae Departsient, Washington, Nov. 23, 1861." 

A memorial stone, with an appropriate inscription, is to be inserted in 
the wall of this new Fort, and this event made the occasion of a public 
Celebration on the 29th of August, 1862, on the 2;55th anniversary of 
the Founding of Popham's Colony. 



88 



Colonization in America. Loaded with reproach 
by all the Pilgrim and Puritan writers of his time, 
his only crime was that he never countenanced 
persecution. The narrow and illiterate Bradford, 
the arrogant and bigoted Winthrop, the leading 
cotemporary writers of the times of Gorges, were 
incapable of doing justice to his motives or his con- 
duct. 

Within the last forty years, the growth and de- 
velopment of the English race in America, and the 
importance of the United States in the community 
of nations, have stimulated inquiry into its early 
history. The earliest settlement of the country, 
and the influences by which it was achieved, have 
become matters of the deepest interest. Events 
Avhich were supposed to be of the least apparent 
moment, at the time, have influenced the direction 
of human affairs and permanently affected the his- 
tory of the race. 

Two hundred and fifty-six years ago, the first 
European settlement north of Florida, was made at 
St. Croix, in our State, by the French, with every as- 
surance of permanently holding the Continent. In 
that same year, 1605, George Weymouth retm-ned 
to England, after having explored the coast of 
Maine and of New England, not made known be- 
fore, by the voyages of Gosnold and Pring. The 
leading minds of England, selected their place of 
settlement, looking simply at the natural advan- 



89 



tages of the country. From Mount Desert to Cape 
Elizabeth, was the fairest hmcl, and the most invit- 
ing sea coast, that had tempted an Atlantic voyage. 
There, they made their first effort to plant a Colo- 
ny, as the means of enlarging the dominion of their 
nation. The seat of Empire accidentally passed 
farther west, for a time, to avoid the dangers of In- 
dian and French hostility, and in the struggle for 
control of the Continent between England and her 
Colonies, a large portion of Maine was the subject 
of controversy. Her position became a subordi- 
nate one in the time of the CommouAvealth, and 
not till our day has she been able to vindicate her 
just position. 

But we already see the initiatory steps that shall 
realize the idea on which the thrice honored and 
renowned Warwick, and the sagacious Gorges, set 
on foot this Empire of the West ; — and that chosen 
spot they selected became the seat of its power. 
Within the last sixteen years we have w^itnessed 
the great minds of England uniting with those of 
our own land, in cementing anew the ties of lineage 
which the the folly of an unwise ruler less than a 
century ago had severed. Already the iron arm 
of the railway has joined States and Provinces into 
one community of interests, and the iron locomo- 
tive departs from Casco Bay on an unbroken line 
of iron to the distant waters of Michigan and Hu- 
ron, yet to be extended to the far distant shores of 
12 



90 



the Pacific. A giant work, greater than the Pyra- 
mids, now spans the waters of the St. Lawrence, 
while the ocean has been bridged by such Unes of 
steamers that have practically annihilated space 
and time in the operations of business. It was the 
belief of those who first planted our State, that it 
would be the fairest portion of America, and that 
the deep waters of our bays should float the rich- 
est treasures of an expanding commerce. The re- 
alization of these visions is not far distant from our 
day ; and if the sons of Maine are true to them- 
selves and to their State, the dawn of that day may 
be speedily ushered in. 

As it was the foresight of Gorges that planted 
the Saxo-Norman race in America, so it was the 
wisdom of Cromwell, that saw in them the great 
strength of the nation. Both these great men have 
in their own time suflered from the persecutions of 
their enemies, so that a future age only could do 
justice to their memories. Gorges, a devoted roy- 
alist, a persistent friend of the Stuart dynasty, has 
been as obnoxious to Puritan prejudice, as was 
Cromwell and the Independents, to that of the re- 
stored monarchy and its followers. But Gorges' 
fame shall yet eclijDse that of any other name in our 
American annals. My native State has been remiss 
in the discharge of this duty, and supinely allowed 
the history of New England to cluster around the 
Rock of of Plymouth instead of standing clearly 



91 



out in the earlier deeds of the great minds that 
saved New England and the Continent from the 
grasp of the French. 

The high position and character of Gorges are 
vouched by his intimacy with the Chief Justice of 
England, and the chief noblemen of the realm, 
whose confidence he enjoyed to the close of his 
long and illustrious life, and his entire freedom from 
intolerance is shown in every act. His ambition 
was to people these realms with the best country- 
men of England, though he foresaw their early in- 
dependence of the Crown, and though a zealous 
Episcopalian, he gave equal encouragement to Pu- 
ritan and Churchmen. 

If the greatness of an individual is to be meas- 
ured by his influence, on human aftairs, the name 
of Gorges should be ranked with that of Cromwell 
and of Peter the* Great of Russia, the men who 
have exerted most influence in shaping the history 
of modern times. The English, or Saxo-Norman 
race less than 5,000,000 in 1620, to-day is supreme 
on the ocean, and holds one-sixth of the habitable 
globe. It governs one-fourth part of the human 
race, four times in number the population of the 
Roman Empire when its eagles overshadowed the 
world. 

The strength of a nation like that of an individ- 
ual, is its history, and while we recount with pride 
the deeds of the great men who have preceded us, 



92 



we should reflect on the value to us, of that larger 
theatre on which we are called to act, nor forget 
him whose genius and fidelity planted the English 
race in America. While this Saxo-Norman race 
learns more and more, and day by day sympathise 
with whatever is good and true in old England, we 
find in England's great men a corresponding sym- 
pathy with whatever is worthy of respect in the 
New England of our day so well expressed by Mr. 
D'Israeli, in a speech at Aylesbury, in the last Par- 
liamentary election : " Whatever may be the fate of 
the England of the old world," said D'Israeli, " all 
that she has accomplished for good, in art, science, 
or political economy, and all that is glorious in her 
history, her literature or her institutions, is destined 
to still higher development in the hands of that 
race she has planted, springing from our loins, and 
enjoying a common ancestry with us, on the dis- 
tant shores of New England and Australia. 



APPENDIX A. 



The FIKST CHARTER of Virginia. 

Twr-ptj h-ir thp Grace of God, Kin?: ot Enij land, Scotland, France &ni Ireland, 

JAMES by the brace 01 1^0^ „ our loving and well-disposed Sub ects, 

^■^l7hoLsGaes ■^ndiAon/eforners, Kr^i^ht.: Rickard HacUuit Clerk Pre- 

hPnd^irv of wTJmtnster, and Edward-Maria fVingJield, Thomas Hanha,n, and Ra- 

bendaiyol Af^Mminscer Geonje Popham, Gentlemen, and divers 

ottrs of om lovino- Se^ts, ha^ humble Sidtors unto Us, that We would 

others ot o"i/";'"»^",Jj =,'„„„ (•(, make Habitation, Plantation, and to deduce 

fi^^anTfoX Decreet Ind^'ie's^^^^^^ adjacent, or within one hun- 

'^'!'^ riif'thnt^Fmrand'for the more speedy Accomplishment of their said in- 
. "^V^ Piol^tnf in, .ndllabtation there, are desiroui to divide themselves into 
tm, sfveralcSie^Ld t^^^^^^^ one consisting of certain Knights, Gen- 

two seveiai *-'Oi""\'^*',Tr,Vl,Pv AH venturers of our City oi London and elsewhere, 
tlemen, Merchants and oteAdvent^^^^^^^ ^ ly ^^ ^^^.^^ ^^ 

^e'^'^he^ mSonTnd lul uSilf so^nL^^^^ and convenient Place between 
begin t'^eu i^;;y";;y"" ''" ' fyi-ty Degrees of the said Latitude, alongst the Coasts 
four and t^i^ty and one and loi tj iJe^^^^^ aforesaid : And tlie other consisting of 

?nd five and fX Degrees of the said Latitude, all alongst the said Coasts of 

%r'S\vTomSendin|! ^anf glSsly accep^ of, their Desires for^the 
T^.Irthe^ance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, 

ernmfnt DOrby these our Letters Patents, graciously accept of, andagiee to, 
^^iMrt^lleVefli^foV^U^^^ Successors GRANT and agree that 

thtsaid'sir T/^o^as Gates,' Sir Geonje'somers, «/f -^.^^"tnd'^ll'sucfoTh^rf as 
■ T.r- j: ij AriTrontiirprs nf nnd for our Citv of London, anu an sucii oiiierb, a-s 

S,;sUyet^?;itKThriVands^XhT^'or^^^^^^ Miles directly over against 



9-1 

the same Sea Coast ; And also all the Lands, Soil, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Riv- 
ers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Waters, Marshes, Fishings, Commodities, and He- 
reditaments, whatsoever, from the said Place of their first Plantation and Habi- 
tation for the Space of fifty like Enylisk Miles, all alongst the said Coasts of Fir- 
ginia, and America, towards tlie East and Northeast, or towards the North, as the 
Coast lyeth, together witli all tlie Islands witliin one hundred Miles, directlj- over 
against the said Sea Coast ; And also all tlie Lauds, Woods, Soil, (irounds, Havens, 
Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, and He- 
reditaments, whatsoever, Imni the same fifty Miles every way on the Sea Coast, di- 
rectly into the main Land l)\' the Space of one liundred lilie Enijlish Miles; And 
shall and may inhaliit and remain tliere ; and shall and ma^' also build and forti- 
fy within an\ the same, fur their better Safeguard and Defence, according to their 
best Discretion, and the Discretion of the Council of that Colony; And that no 
other of our Subjects shall be permitted, or suffered, to plant or inliabit behind, 
or on the P)ackside of them, towards the main Land, without the Express License 
or Consent of the Council, of that Colon3', thereunto in Writing first had and ob- 
tained. 

And we do likewise, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, bj' these Presents, 
GRANT and agree, that the said Thomas Hanham, and Rale(jh Gilbert, TVilliam 
Parker, and Georye Popham, and all otliers of the Town of Plimouth in the County 
of Devon or elsewhere, which are, or sliall be, joined imto them of tliat Colony, 
shall be called the second Colony ; And tliat they shall and may begin their said 
Plantation and Seat of their first Abode and Hal)itation, at any Place upon the 
said Coast of Virginia and America, where the}' sliall think tit and convenient, 
between eight and thirty Degrees of the said Latitude, and five and forty Degrees 
of the same Latitude ; And that they shall have all the Lands, Soils, Grounds, 
Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Marshes, \Vaters, Fisliings, Com- 
modities, and Hereditaments, wliatsoever, from the first Seat of their Plantation 
and Habitation by tlie Space of fifty like English Miles, as is aforesaid, all alongst 
the said Coasts of Virginia and America, towards the fVest and Southwest, or 
towards the South, as the Coast lyeth, and all the Islands within one hundred Miles, 
directly over against the saidSea Coast ; And also all the Ln-uls, Soils, Grounds, 
Havens, Ports, Rivers, Mines, Minerals, Woods, Marshes, Wiiters, Fishings, Com- 
modities, and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the said Place of their first Plan- 
tation and Habitation for the Space of fifty like miles, all alongst the said Coast 
of Virginia and America, towards the East and Northeast, or towards the North, as 
the Coast lyeth, and all tlie Islands also witliin one hundred Miles directl3' over 
against the same Sea Coast ; And also all tlie Lands, Soils, Grounds, Havens, 
Ports, Rivers, Woods, Mines, Minerals, Marshes, Waters, Fishings, Commodities, 
and Hereditaments, whatsoever, from the same fifty Miles every way on the Sea 
Coast, directl3' into the main Land, by the Space of one liundred like English 
Miles; And shall and may inhabit and remain there; and shall and may also 
build and fortify' witliin an^' the same for their better Safeguard, accordin'g to 
their best Discretion, and the Discretion of tlie Cuuiieil of that Colony; And that 
none of our Subjects shall be permitted, or sufiered, to jilaiit or inhabit iiehind, 
or on the back of them, towards the mam Land, witlmut exi)ress Licence of the 
Council of tliat Colony, in Writing thereunto first had and obtained. 

Provided always, and our Will and i'leiisure herein is, that the Plantation and 
Habitation of such of tlie said Colonies, as shall last plant tliemselves, as aforesaid, 
shall not be made within one hundred like Enylish Miles of the other of them, 
that first began to make their Plantation, as aforesaid. 

And we do also ordain, establish, and agree, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, 
that each of the said Colonies shall have a Council, whicli shall govern and or- 
der all Matters and Causes, which shall arise, grow, or happen, to or within the 
same several Colonies, according to such Laws, Ordinances, and Instructions as 
shall be, in that behalf, given and signed with Our Hand or Sign Manual, and 
pass under the Privy Seal of our Realm of England; Eaeli of wliieli Councils 
shall consist of thirteen Persons, to be ordained, made, and removed, from time 
to time, according as shall be directed and comjirised in tlie same Instructions ; 
And shall liave a several Seal, for all Matters that shall pass or concern the same 
several Councils ; Each of which Seals, shall liave the King's Arms engraven on 
the one side thereof, and liis Portraiture on the other ; And that the Seal for the 
Council of the said first Colony shall have engraven round about, on the one 
side, these Words: Sigillum Regis Mac/ncB Britanni(B, Francice, ^ Hihernice; on the 
other side this Inscription round about : Pro Concilio pritnce Colonice Virginice. 
And the Seal for the Council of the said second Colony shall also liave engraven, 
round aiiout the one side thereof, the aforesaid Words: Sigillum Regis Magna 
BritanntcE, Francice, (f Hibernia ; and on the other side: Pro Concilio fecundm 
Colonies Virqinia : 

And that also there shall be a Council established liere in England, -^hich shall, 
in like Manner, consist of thirteen Persons, to be, for that Purpose, appointed 
bjf Us, our Heirs and Successors, which shall be called our Council of Virginia ; 
And shall, from time to time, have the superior Management and Direction, only 



95 

of and for all Matters that shall or may concern the Government, as well of the 
said several Colonies, as of and for any "other Part or Place, within the aforesaid 
Precincts of four and thirty and five and forty Decrees, abovementioncd ; Which 
Council shall, in like manner, liave a Seal, for Matters concerning tlie Council or 
Colonies, witli the like Arms and Portraiture, as aforesaid, with this Inscription^ 
engraven round about on the one side: Si<jiUinn Reyis Mayna; Britannice, Francim, 
if Hibernia: ; and round about on the otlier side, Pro Conci/in f'lio Finjiniop. 

And moreover, we do Grant and agree, for Us, our IJeirs and Suct-essors; that 
the said several Councils of and for the said several Cuhiiiics, sliall and lawfully 
may, by Virtue hereof, from time to time, without an.\- Interrui)tiiin of Us, our 
Heirs or Successors, give and take Order, to dig, mine, imd sear'-li for all Manner 
of Mines of Gold, Silver, and Copper, as well within -.iny P;irt of tlieir said 
several Colonies, as of tlie said main Lands on the Backside of the same Colonies; 
And to Have and enjoy the Gold, Silver, and Copper, to be gotten thereof, to 
the Use and Behoof of the same Colonies, and the Plantations tTiereof; Yielding 
therefore to Us, our Heirs and Successors, the fifth Part only of all the same Gold 
and Silver, and the fifteenth Part of all tlie same Copper, so to be gotten or had, 
as is aforesaid, without any other Manner of Profit or Account, to be given or 
yielded to Us, our Heirs, or Successors, for or in Respect of the same: 

And that they shall, or lawfully may, esta>)lisli and cause to be made a Coin, to 
pass current there l>etween the jjeople of those several Colonies, for the more 
Ease of Traflick and Bargaining between and amongst them and the Natives 
there, of such Metal, and in such Manner and Form, as the said several Councils 
there shall limit and appoint. 

And we do likewise, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, by these Presents, give- 
full Power and Authority to the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir Georr/e Somers, 
Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria TVimiJield, Tho?nas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, 
William Parker and George Popham and to every of tliem, and to the said several 
Companies, Plantations, and Colonies, that they, and ever^^ of them, shall and 
may, at all and every time and times hereafter, have, take, and lead in the said 
Voi'age, and for and towards the said several Plantations, and Colonies, and to 
travel thitherward, and to abide and inhabit tlierc, in every the said Colonies 
and Plantations, such and so many of our SuVijects, as shall willingly accompany 
them or any of them, in the said Voyages and Plantations; With sufficient 
Shipping, and Furniture of Armour, Weapons, Ordinance, Powder, Victual, and 
all other things, necessary for the said Plantations, and for their Use and Defence 
there : Provided always, that none of the said Persons be such, as shall here- 
after be specially restrained by Us, our Heirs, or Successors. 

Moreover, we do, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, Give- 
AND GRANT Licence unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard 
Hacldait, Edirard-Maria Wingjield, Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, 
and George Popham, and to every of the said Colonies, that they, and every of" 
them, shall and may, from time to time, and at all times forever hereafter, for 
their several Defences, encounter, expulse, repel, and resist, as well by Sea as by 
Land, by all Wa^'s and Means whatsoever, all and every such Person and Persons,, 
as without the especial Licence of the said several Colonies and Plantations, 
shall attempt to inliabit within the said several Precincts and Limits of the said 
several Colonies and Plantations, or any of them, or that shall enterprise or 
attempt, at any time hereafter, the Hurt, Detriment, or Annoyance, of the said 
several Colonies or Plantations: 

Giving and granting, by these Presents, unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir 
George Somers, Richard Hackluit, Edward-Maria Wing^fielil, and their Associates of 
the said first Colony, and unto the said Thomas Hanham. Raligh Gilbert, William 
Parker, and George Popharn, and their Associates of the said second Colony, and 
to every of them, from time to time, and at all times for ever hereafter. Power 
and Authority to take and surinise, by all Ways and Means whatsoever, all and 
every Person and Persons, witli their Ships, Vessels, Goods, and other Furniture, 
shall be found trafficking, into any Harbour or Harbours, Creek or Creeks, or 
Place, within the Limits or Precincts of the said several Colonies and Plantations, 
not being of the same Colony, until such time, as thej^ being of any Realms or 
Dominions under our Obedience, shall pay, or agree to pay, to the Hands of the 
Treasurer of that Colony, within whose Limits and Precincts Miey sliall so 
traffick, two and a half upon every Hundred, of any thing, so by theiii tradicked, 
bought, or sold; And being Strangers, and not Subjects under our (tbeyance, 
until they shall pay five upon every Hundred, of such Wares and Merchandises, 
as they shall traffick, buj', or sell, within the Precincts of the said several Colo- 
nies, wherein thej' shall so traffick, bu3', or sell, as aforesaid ; Which Sums uf 
Money, or Benefit, as aforesaid, for and during the Space of one and twenty 
Years, next ensuing the Date hereof, shall be wholly emploied to tlie Use, Ben- 
efit, and Behoof of the said several Plantations, where such Traflick shall be 
made ; And after the said one and twenty Years ended, the same shall be taken 
to the Use of Us, our Heirs, and Successors, by such Officers and Ministers, as byr 
Us, our Heirs, and Successors, shall be thereunto assigned or ai>pointed. 



96 

And we do further, by these Presents, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, Give 
AND GRANT unto the said Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Richard Hackluit, 
and Edu-ard-Maria Jf'inafitld, and to their Associates of the said first Colony and 
Plantation, and to tlie said Thomas Jlanham, lia/r</h Gilbert, William Parker, and 
Gforf/f Po/j/(«7«, and tlieir Associates of tlie said second Colon j' and Plantation, 
that they, and every of them, by their J)e])uties, Ministers, and Factors, may 
transport the Goods, Chattels, Armour, Munition, and Furniture, needful to be 
used 1)3' them, for their said Apparel, Food, Defence, or otlierwise in Respect of 
tlie said Plantations, out of our Realms of JCiif/land and Ireland, and all otlier 
our Dciininidns, from time to time, for and durin"' tlie Time of seven Years, next 
ensuinn' the Dale liereof, for the better Relief of the said several Colonies and 
Plantations, witliout any Customs, Subsidy, or other Duty, unto Us, our Heirs, 
or Successors, to be yielded or payed for the same. 

Also vpe do, for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, Declare, by these Presents, 
that all and every the Persons being our Subjects, wliich sliall dwell and inhabit 
within every or any of the said several Colonies and Plantations, and every of 
their Children, wliich shall happen to l)e born within any of the Limits and 
Precincts of the said several Colonies and Plantations, shall have and enjoy all 
Liberties, Franchises and Immunities, within any of our other Dominions, to all 
Intents and Purposes, as if they had been ,abiding and born, within this our 
Realm of Enqland, or any other of our said Dominions. 

Moreover, our gracious Will and Pleasure is, and we do, by these Presents, for 
Us, our Heirs, and Successors, declare and set forth, that if any Person or Persons, 
which shall be of any of the said Colonies and Plantations, or any other, which 
sliall traffick to the said Colonies and Plantations, or any of them, shall, at any 
time, or times hereafter, transport any Wares, Mercliandises, or Commodities, out 
of any of our Dominions, witli a Pretence to land, sell, or otherwise dispose of the 
same, within any the Limits and precincts of any of the said Colonies and Plan- 
tations, and yet nevertheless, being at Sea, or after lie hath landed the same 
witliin.any of the said Colonies and Plantations, shall carry the same into any 
other foreign Country, with a purpose tliere to sell or dispose of the same, without 
the Licence of Us, our Heirs, and Successors, in that Belialffirst had and obtained: 
That then, all the Goods and Chatties of such Person or Persons, so oifendingand 
transporting, together with the said Ship or ^'essel wherein such Transportation 
was made, shall be forfeited to Us, our lleirs, and Successors. 

Provided always, and our Will and Pleasure is, and we do hereby declare to all 
Christian Kings,' Princes, and States, that if any Person or Persons which shall 
hereafter be of any of tlie said several Colonies and Plantations, or any other, 
by his, their, or any of their Licence and Appointment, shall, at any Time or 
Times hereafter, rob or spoil, by Sea or Land, or do any Act of unjust or unlawful 
Hostility to any the Subjects of Us, our Heirs, or Successors, or any the Suiyects 
of any King, Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, being then in League or Amitie 
with Us, our Heirs, or Successors, and tliat u])on sucli injury, or upon just Com- 
plaint of such Prince, Ruler, Governor, or State, or their Subjects, We, our Heirs, 
or Suece.-isors, shall make cipen Prdclamatiiui, within aii,\- of the Ports of our Realm 
of Eii(/l(i>id, connnodious fin- that ]iiupiise, Tliat tlie said Person or Persons, having 
comniitteil any sueli Rolibery, or Si)oil, sh.all within tlie term to lie limited b.y such 
Proclamations, make full Restitution or Satisfaction of all such Injuries done, 
so as the said Princes, or others so coniiilaiiiing, may hold themselves fully satis- 
fied and contented ; And, that if the said Person or Persons, having committed 
such Robery or Spoil, shall not make, or cause to be made Satisfaction accord- 
ingly, within such Time, so to be limited, That then it shall he lawful to Us, our 
Heirs, and Successors, to put the said Person or Persons, having committed such 
Robery or S]iuil, and their Procurers, Aliettors, and Comforters, out of our 
Allegiance and Protection ; And that it .shall lie lawful and free, for all Princes, 
and others to pursue with hostility the said offenders, and every of them, and 
their and every of their Procurers, Aiders, abettors, and comforters, in that 
behalf. 

And finally, we do for Us, our Heirs, and Successors, Grant and agree, to and 
with the said Sir Thomas dates, Sir George Somers, Richard Ildrkinit Edward-Maria 
Wimifii III, and all otliers of the said first colony, that We, our lleirsand Successors, 
upon Petition in that Behalf to lie made, sliall, by Letters Patent under the Great 
Seal of i."/"//"'/'/. <iiVE and Grant unto such Persons, their Heirs and Assigns, 
as the Council of that Colony, or the most part of them, shall, for that I'urpose, 
nominate and assign all the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, which shall 
be within the Precincts limited for that Colony, as is aforesaid. To be holden 
of Us, our heirs and Successors, as of our Manor of East-Greenwich, in the County 
of Kent, in free and common Soccage only, and not in Capite : 

And do in like Manner, Grant and Agree, for Us, our Heirs and Successors, to 
and with the said Thomas Hanham, Ralegh Gilbert, William Parker, and George 
Popham, and all others of the said second" Colony, That We, our Heirs, and Suc- 
cessors, ujion Petition in that Behalf to be made, shall, by Letters-Patent, under 
the Great Seal of Enyland, Give and Grant, unto such Persons, their Heirs and 



9T 



A„lgn., .s th. Council of .L.t Colony, or U,. "-'^^SL! »d "ietSSon" 
..^lk"l''S.ei.,«eul .ball ^^^^ 

=BEfipoK3;£^£Ha^ai^ 

Lukin 
Per breve di privato Sigilla. 



APPENDIX B. 



KELATIONS OF THE JESUITS, 
containing the most remarkaMe even^tsm^^Jc^ Mission of the Company of Jesu« 

An Accotjvt of New France ; the land, nature of tl^?^'^°'i°*,';f 'o'.hI'^' '''^''^"' 
tknts; from a copy preserved in the Imperial Library of Pans. 

Chapter I. Wliat country New France is, and those who first sought to in- 

^"cHAp-lF'oi'ihe weather, the seasons, and the temperature of New France. 

'Ih: vlll. ^i^S/^SSS^^I^t^r-burialsandtheirrelision. 
^Pdiilp''ix. Of the means of aiding them toward their eternal salvation. -pp. 
^°Ch1p. X. Of the necessity of thoroughly catechising them before baptizing 
them.— pp. 21-24. 

13 



98 

Chap. XI. On what occasion the Jesuits went to New France in 1611, and what 
the Frencli liad done tliere from 1698 until their coming. — pp. 24-27. 

Chap. XII. The difficulties which arose at Dicispe and how they were relieved, 
pp. 27-28. 

Chap. XIII. The voyage and their arrival at Port Royal. — pp. 28-29. 

Chap. XIV. The condition of the Lord De Poutrincourt when they arrived and 
his voyage to the Etehomius — pp. 29-30. 

Chap. XV. The return of De Potrincourt to France, and the difficulty of 
teaching the savages. — pp. 30-32. 

Chap. XVI. Voyage to St. Croix, and death of Membertou. — jsp. 32-3.5. 

Chap. XVII. Voyage to St. Jdlm iind tlicir quarrel there. — pp. 33-35. 

Chap. XVIII. Voyage to QuiunebcMiui and return to Port Royal. — 35-38. 

Chap. XIX. IIow the Marchioness of Uucrchville obtained fromthe King the 
land of Mew France, and the aid she sent them. — 38-39. 

Chap> XX. The commencement of disjjutes between Lord Biancourt and the 
Jesuits and the causes thereof. The charge against Gilbert Du Thet and his de- 
fence.— pp. 39-40. 

Chap. XXI. The voyage of Father Enemond and another by Father Biard. 
pp. 40-42. 

Chap. XXII. What happened in the winter and spring of 1613. — pp. 42-43. 

Chap. XXIII. The arrival of Saussaye at Port Royal, and from thence to St. 
Saviour. — 13-44. 

Chap. XXIV. The reason for stopping at St. Saviour, and the beauty of the 
place. — pp. 44-46. 

Chap. XXV. Our capture by the English. — 46-48. 

Chap. XXVI. The capture of our vessel and peojile and our sufferings.— pp. 
48-50. 

Chap. XXVII. The exijedition to return to France, and how thirty of our 
people arrived there after much labor. — pp. 50-52. 

Chap. XXVIII. Voyage to Virginia and thence to New France.— pp. .52-53. 

Chap. XXIX. Capture and burning of Port Royal. Dangerous adventures 
of Father Biard.— pp. 53-56. 

Chap. XXX. Departure from Port Royal ; difficult adventures of the ships, 
and how we were forced to part with the cargoes. — .56-58. 

Chap. XXXI. IIow the ship was wrecked at the Azores, and the good faith of 
the Jesuits towards the English. — pp. 58-59. 

Chap. XXXII. Comingto England and the release of the Jesuits. — pp. 59-60. 

Chap. XXXI II. Of the return of Sire De Lamothe, of Cajit. Flory and some 
others, and the surrender of the sliip. — pp. 60-61. 

Chap. XXXIV. The advance of the Christian Religion in New France. — ^pp. 
61-63. 

Chap. XXXV. Of the miracles God wrought in the cause of the savages. — pp. 
63-64. 

Chap. XXXVI. Of the right of the French to approisriato to themselves New 
France as against the English.— pp. 64-67. 

Chap. XXXVII. Reasons for the settlement of New France.— pp. 67-68. 
Printed by Louis Muguet, Lyons, June 23, 1616. 



EXTRACTS: 

CHAPTER XI. 

On what account the Jesuits went to Neiv France in 1611, and what the French had 
done there from 1608 until their coming. 

" It has been narrated, how at the end of the said year 1607, all the train of 
Sr. do Monts, returned to France, and this New France was then entirely aban- 
doned by the French. Nevertheless, the following j'car, 1608, Sr. de Monts ap- 
pointed Sr. Champlain his Lieutenant, and sent him to explore along the great 
river St. Lawrence. Champlain didbravelj' there, and founded the city of Que- 
bec. But as to the acts, voyages and discoveries of the said Champlain, there is 
no need to paint them to you, since he himself has so well and so long described 
them in his books. 

Now Sr. Jean de Biencourt, called de Potrincourt, before Sr. de Monts had left 
New France, had asked him for the gift of Port Royal. Sr. de Monts gave it to 
him on condition that within the two following years, the said de Potrincourt 



99 

should transport himself there with several families to cultivate, and inhabit it 
wliicb he promised to do. 

Then in 1007, all the French having returned, as above stated, Sr. de Potrin- 
court informed tlie late Henry the (ireat, of immortal memory, of the deed of 
gift made to him by Sr. de Monts, humbly petitioning liis Majesty tJT ratify it. 
The King was pleased witli the said petition, and promising ifiimself to send a 
powerful French Colony. lie said to Father Coton tliat he wished to make use 
of this Company for the conversion of the savages; that he should write about it 
to the Father General, and that some sliould be designated for these voyages ; 
that he would call on them, on the first ojjjjortunity, promising from this time 
2000 livres for their support. 

Father Coton obeyed his Majesty, and soon through all the Colleges of France, 
it was heard that some should be chosen for this mission. Many presented them- 
selves to join the band, as usual in sucli expeditions of niucli hardshiijs and little 
glorj^; and among otliers. Father Pierre Biartl, tlien teaehingTheology at Lyons. 
It was God's willthat the said Father should l)e chosen and sent to Bordeaux at 
the end of 1008, because at Lyons they thought tliat as tlie project of so powerful 
a Prince had been known for so many months, its execution could not but bo 
near. But Father Biard was as much deceived in the place as the time. For, at 
Bordeaux they were astonished when they heard why he liad come. No news of the 
embarking for Canada, or of the jjast check, upon which everyone philosophized 
in his own fashion. 

At the end of the following year, 1609, Sr. de Potrincourt came to Paris, when 
his Majesty learned that, contrary to his opinion, the said Nobleman had not 
stirred from France, (for the King believed that he had crossed t)ie sea as soon as 
he had obtained confirmation of Port Royal.) He was angr3' with him. Deeply 
touched at tliat, the Nobleman reijlied, that since his Majesty had the affair so 
much at heart, from that moment he would take leave of him, and go to equip 
the expedition. Tlien Fatlier Coton, wlio was anxious about Father'Biard, and 
the great summons he had made in the name of the King, knowing that Potrin- 
court had taken leave of the King, went to find Potrincourt and oflerod him the 
company of several members of his order. He received the reply, that it would 
be better to wait till the following year ; that as soon as he had arrived at Port 
Royal, he would send back his son to France; and that, witli him, everything 
being better arranged, those might go whom the King should please to send. At 
this, he left Paris and spent the winter in preparation. 

The following year, 1010, he einbarkedj towards tlie last o/ February, and ar- 
rived late at Port Royal, viz : at the beginning of June, when having assembled 
as many savages as he could, he caused to be baptized about 24 or 25 of them on 
St. John's day, by a 23riest named Josse Flesche, entitled the Patriarch. Shortly 
after he sent back to France Sr. de Biencourt, his son, about 19 years old, to carry 
the news of the baptism of the savages, and to liring back succor speedily, for 
they were unprovided against hunger for the coming winter." 

Then follows a minute account of the difficulties in fitting out their ships and 
supjilying tlie Jesuits, and obtaining leave for tliem to go on board, but at last 
they sailed on the 20th January, 1011, and reached Port, Royal the 22d of June, 
Kill, Pentecost day. Then he describes the life of the Jesuits on shipboard, and 
then comes 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The condition of Sr. de. Potrincourt at their arrival, and his journey to the Etchemins. 

" The joy at our arrival was great on both sides ; great to tlic new comers, from 
the fatigue of so long a sea- voyage, but redoubled to Sr. de Potrincourt, who had 
been in great trouble and anxiety all the winter. Having with him 23 persons 
without suflicicnt provisions to sui)port them, ho had been obliged to send away 
some of them to live with the savages. Tlie rest had been wanting bread for six 
or seven weeks, and without the help of the savages he did not know but they 
would all have perished miserably. 

How the aid he brought them was almost, one may say, like a drop of water to 
a thirsting one: first because tliere were 36 in one ship, which, added to the 23 
persons there, 59 moutlis f(iun<l themselves everyday at table, and also Mem- 
bertou, the savage, with liis chiugliter and her comijanions ; Second, we liad been 
four months at sea, and thus our provisions were much diminislied. Seeing also 
that our vessel was very small, aliout 50 or 60 tons, and provisioned more for fish- 
ing than for anything else. In this situation then, it was rather necessary for Sr. 
de'Potrincourt to think how he should promptly- send back so large a family, lest 
they should consume everything, than to obtain fisliing and barter, in which, 
nevertheless lay every resource"f'or a second vo3'age. But tliey did not wholly 
neglect bartering, for it was necessary to make some money to pay the wages of 
liis men, and their coming and going to France. 



100 

For these purposes then, he sailed in his own ship, some days after, with almost 
all his people, for a port of the Btoliemins, called tne White Rook, 22 leagues due 
west from Port Royal, tie hoped to fiad there some help of provisions from the 
French siwips which he knew traded there. Father Biard wislied to accompany 
him to explore the country and discover tlie character of the natives, whicli was 
granted liim. ile found there four French vessels; one belonging to Sr. de 
Monts, one from Rochelle, one from St. Malo belonging to du Pout Grave, and 
commanded by a relative of his called Captain La Salle, of whom we shall soon 
speak, and another bark from Hi. Malo. isr. de Potrincourt, calling each one of 
tliese four after the otlier, caused them to acknowledge his son for Vice Admiral ; 
and then asked them for assistance, showing the need to wliicli he had been re- 
duced the last winter, promising to repay them in France. Each one contributed. 
But God i)ardon the men from Rochelle ; for he deceived the Excise, and gave us 
barrels of spoiled bread for good." Then comes an account of the pardon of Sir 
Pout Du Grave, and then 

CnAPTER XV. 

The return of Sr.de Potrincourt to France, and the difflculty of teaching the lan- 
guage to the Savages. 

" He explained above the necessity which pressed upon Sr. de Potrincourt to 
send his people immediately back to France, ile wisiied to conduct them in 
person in order to make better arrangements for everything, and principally for 
a new revictualling : for without this, those left behind at Port Royal, would 
have no means of passing the winter in manifest danger of being jjierced by fam- 
ine. For this cause then, lie sailed about the middle of July of the same year, 
1611, and arrived in France at the end of the August following, ile left his son 
in his place, Sr. de Potrincourt, with two persons including the two Jesuits." 

Then is a long account of the difficulty of teaching the language to the natives. 
Then we resume. 

" One expedient presented itself to the Jesuits to rid them happilj^ of all these 
perplexities ; it was to find young du Pont Grave, whom they had heard 
had resolved to winter at the river St. Johns, some 18 or '20 leagues from 
Port Royal. Inasmuch as the said du Pont Grave had lived a long time in the 
country, and amortg the natives. It was thought that he must understand the 
language very well. Father Biard resolved to seek the said du Pont Grave, de- 
termining rather to pass French Bay in a canoe than to lose such an opportunity 
of doing good. But Sr. de Biencourt opposed strongly this determination, taking 
great offence, to which it was necessary to yield for peace." 

CHAPTER XVI. 

A voyage made to the riuer St. Croix, and the death of the Sagamore Membertou. 

" At the end of August of the same year, 1611, Sr. de Biencourt having heard 
that the ship of Captain Plastrier of Honfleur, was fishing at Port aux Coquilles, 
(Shell Harbor,) 21 leagues west from Port Royal, decided to go and find him in 
order to introduce to him one of his men whom ho was sending to France to 
hasten the expected aid, and to represent how pitiable their condition was. 
Fatlier I?iard accompanied him, and they met the shif) so apropos, that if they 
had been a quarter of au hour later, the favorable opportunity would have been 
lost, for already he had set sail for France. He learned tliat Captain Plastrier 
had decided to pass tlie winter at St. Croix. This news decided Sr. de Biencourt 
to go to St. Croix on this very passage, before Captain Plastrier should fortify 
himself there, for he wished to obtain Irom him the fifth of all his trade and mer- 
chandise, because he wintered in the country. St. Croix is 6 leagues from Port 
aux Coquilles in the middle of a river. Sr. de Biencourt went there accompan- 
ied by 8 persons, and entered armed, having left Father Biard on one end of tho 
Island. * * * * Thanks to God, everything passed off happilj'. Plastrier 
treated us as well as he could ; by his aid Sr. de Biencourt recovered a bark which 
was at Port aux Coquilles, with which he returned to Port Boyal." * * * * 

Then the account of the death of Membertou. Then 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The journey to the river St. John, and the quarrels that came of it. 

" I said above, that Sr. de Biencourt brought a bark from Port aux Coquilles, 
with which he might make a voyage to the Arinouchiquois. So are called the 
people who are at the 43'=' lower down towards the south west. They begin at 



/ 



/ 



/ 

/ 

101 

Chciuaquet, and ftom what is said, they are very numerous. Famine pressed Sr. 
de Bieueourt to this voyage ; because as these people worked and stored grain, 
he hoped ijy means of barter or otherwise, to draw some help from them against 
the famine, who was waiting for us in tlie winter. Mis bark was prepared too late 
for so long a voyage, for we were not ready till the 3d Uctooer, and he still 
wished to go to the river St. John before taking tlie former route. The river St. 
John is at northeast of Port Royal having between tlio two, French Bay, 14 
leagues wide. The entrance of tJiis river is very narrow and exceedingly danger- 
ous , for it is necessary to pass between two rocks, one of which throws upon the 
otlier the current of the tide, wliicli is swift as an arrow. To the rocks succeeds 
a frightful precipice, which, if you do not pass at the precise time, out of a hun- 
dred thousand barques, not a hair will escape, but dies and property will perish. 
Young du Font Grave and Captain Merbeville had settled some 6 leagues within 
tlio St. John, being in all seven or eight persons, all from St. Malo. Sr. de Bien- 
court wished to obtain from thein the fifth of all tlieir merchandise, because they 
lived in the country as we have said. On tliis account he had mistaken the jour- 
ney. We were in all 16 Frenchmen and 2 natives as guides." 

Then an account of the skirmish and the submission of du Pont Grave and Mer- 
beville. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
The voyage to QuinniheQui and the return to Port Royal. 

" We remarked above that this voyage to the St. John was only a detour from 
the greater expedition to the Armouchiquois to get corn. Wlien we had thus 
acted with the JUalhouius we set sail taking the route towards tlie Armouchiquois. 
We arrived at Kinibequi at the end of October. Kinibequi is a river near the 
Armouchiquois, 43§ degrees of elevation, and Southeast of Port Royal 70 leagues 
or thereabouts. It has two mouths, tolerably large, at least two leagues distant 
the one from the other ; also many inlets and islands which divide it. For the 
rest, though the river is large and beautiful, we saw no good land, nor neither 
at the St. John. It is said, however, that aoove, far from tiie sea, the laud is very 
fine, and the situation pleasant, and people work there. We did not ascend more 
than 3 leagues. We made so many quick turns, and leaped so many precipices, 
that it is a great miracle that we had not perished, several times. Some of our 
men cried two different times that they were lost ; but they cried too soon, the 
Lord be praised. The savages tlattered us with tlie hope of grain, then they 
changed tlieir promise of grain into barter of beavers." 

Then follows an account of tlie entrance of the natives to the ship. 

"This tribe does not appear to be miscliievous or malicious, although thej"^ 
defeated and overthrew tlie English who wished to settle among tliem in ItiOS and 
160y. They excused themselves to us for this, and related the outrages that tliey 
had suffered from the aforesaid English, and liattered us, saying they loved us 
well, because thej- knew tliat we would not shut our doors on the savages as the 
English, nor chase them from our table with clul)s, nor let our dogs bite them. 
They are not thieves like the Armouchiquois, and thej' are the greatest speech- 
makers in the world ; thei' do nothing without tliat. Father Biard went twice to 
see tliem, and (as he did ever3'where) prayed to God in their presence, and 
showed them images, and tlie signes of our faith, which they kissed willingly, 
making the sign of the Holy Cross on their children, whom they offered to him 
that he might baptise them, and heard with attention and respect what was told 
them. 

We were at Kinibequi till the 4th or 5th of November, a season too advanced 
for us to go farther according to our first plan. Tliat is why Sr. de Biencourt re- 
turned, the more because he thouglit it better to endure the winter and tlie fam- 
ine at Port Royal, being well lodged and warmed there, and trusting the mercy 
of God, than risking ourselves on the ocean, in a stormy season, among savages 
and enemies, having beside, hunger to fear, for our provisions commenced to fail 
greatly ; thus then, we turned towards Pentagoet to return from there to Port 
Royal. 

At Pentagoet we found a fleet of 80 Indian canoes, and one shallop, in all about 
SOU souls. From there we passed on to the Island of St.Croi.x, where Pla^trier 
gave us 2 barrels of peas or beans ; both were a very great present for us. * * 

While we were on the voyage no one remained at the settlement at Port 
Royal except Father Enemond Masse and a young Parisian called Valentine Pa- 
geau. * * * * 

Snow began the 26th of November and with it, (which annoyed us most,) tlie 
retrenchment of provisions. They gave to each person for the whole week only 
about 10 ounces of bread, i pound of lard, 3 porringers full of peas or beans and 
one of dried prunes. The "Jesuits had never more, nor other than each one of the 
companj', and it is an impudent falsehood which some disturber alleges to the 



102 

contrary. All this time, the savages did not come to see us, except occasionally 
some one of the family of Membertou, to brins us some present of the chase. 
Then was joy and feasting, our people took heart a little." 

CHAPTER XIX. 

How the Marchioness Guerchville obtained froTn the King the land of ISew France, 
and the aid she procured for it. 

****** A long account. Then 

" The ship tlius fitted out and freiglited, sailed from Dieppe the 31st of Decem- 
ber, in the depth of winter, and hap2)ily appeared at Port Royal the 23d of 
January in the following year, 1612." 

CHAPTER XX. 

The beginning of the disputes between Sr. de Biencourt and the Jesuits, and the causes 
of them; the accusation of Gilbert du Thet, and his defense. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Arrival of La Saussaye at Port Royal and then at St. Saviour. 

" An expedition had been prepared in France, to remove the Jesuits from Port 
Royal ami found a new settlement of French in some more convenient place. The 
«liiefof tlie expedition was Captain La Saussa3-e witli 30 persons who were to 
winter in the country. The ship was 100 tons and commanded by Charles Flory 
de Hableville, a man brave, wise and peaceable. 

Tliis prepared expedition sailed from Honfleur the I2th of March, 1613, and 
touched laud first at Cape of the Have in Acadia, May 16th. There they cele- 
brated Mass and raised the Cross, fastening to it the arms of Mme. de Guerche- 
ville, to show they liad taken possession in lier name. Then putting out to sea, 
they came to Port Royal. The*re they found only five persons. Contrary winds 
detained them five days at Port Royal, then a favoring northeast wind arising, 
we set sail, with the design of going to the river Pentagoet, to a place called Ka- 
desquit, which we had decided upon for our new settlement, as having great 
advantages for this purpose. But God willed otherwise; for as we were at the 
Southeast of the Island of Meuamo, the weather changed, and there arose on the 
sea so thick a fog then we could see neither day nor night. We dreaded this 
danger greatly, because in this place there are many breakers and rooks, against 
which we were afraid we would strike, in the darkness. As the wind did not 
permit to put to sea again, we remained in this manner, two days and two nights, 
tacking first to one side, tlien to the other, as God inspired us. This affliction 
disposed us to pray to God that he would be pleased to deliver us from danger, 
and direct us to some safe place, for his glory. Of his goodness, he heard our 
vows, for that evening even we began to see the stars, in the morning the fog 
cleared, we discovered that we were over against Mount Desert, an Island that 
the savages called Pemetiq. The pilot turned to the eastern side of the island 
where we anchored in a large and beautiful harbor, and we gave thanks, raising 
the Cross and singing praises to God with tlie sacrifice of holy Mass. We called 
this i^lace and harbor, St. Saviour." 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

On u'hat acrount ive stopped at St. Saviour, and the beauty of the place. 

". Soon the natives made a .smoke, wliich signified tliat we should seek them if 
we needed them. The Pilot took occasion to tell them that the Fathers from Port 
Royal were on hoard. The Savages replied that tliey would willingly see those 
whom they had known two years l)efore, at Pentagoet ; one was Father Biard, 
who went immediately to them and inquired about the route to Kadesquit, signi- 
fying tliat he wislied to settle tliere. But said they, if you wish to settle in this 
part of the world, why do you not rather remain with us, who have quite as good 
a place as Kadesquit? And they began to sound the praises of their settlement, 
assuring us that it was so healthy and so agreeable, that when Savages are ill in 
other places, they bring them there to cure them. These commendations had no 
effect on Father Biard, because he knew well enougli that the Savages are not 
wanting in what everybody else abounds, valuing one's own possessions. 

But they knew how' to arouse him, " for," said they, " you must come, because 
Asticou our Sagamore, is sick unto death, and if you do not come, he will die 
without baptism, and will not go to Heaven ; you will be the cause. On his part. 



103 

he wishes to be baptised." This reason so simply given, astonished Father Biard 
and persuaded him entirely to go there, especially as tliere were only tliree 
leagues to go, and it would cause but little loss of time, only an afternoon. Thus 
he entered one of their canoes, with Sr. de La Motte and Simon the interpreter, 
and went. 

Arrived at the cabin of Asticou, we found him ill, })ut not dangerously, for it 
was only a cold which tormented him; and wo had abundant leisure to visit this 
place so praised, as better tlian Kadesquit for a French settlement, and indeed 
we found that the Savages had some reason for praising it so higlily, for we our- 
selves were astonished at it. Having given an account of it to the leaders ot our 
expedition, and they having come and examined it, all unanimously agreed that 
we had better stop there, and seek no further. 

This place is a pretty colline rising gently from the sea and bathed on its sides 
by two springs. The land is grubbed for 20 or 25 acres, grassy in some places, as 
high as a man. Its aspect is towards the south and east, almost to the mouth of 
Pentagoet, where several large rivers, full of fish, discharge. The soil is black, 
fat and fertile. The port and haven are as fine as can be seen, and in a situation 
to command the entire coast ; the haven especially is as safe as a pond, for beside 
being separated from the large island of Mount Desert, it is also separated from 
certain small islets which break the winds and the waves, and fortify the entrance. 
There is no fleet for which it would not be sufficient, nor vessel so high which 
it might not approach land to unload within a cable's length. Its situation is 
44 J'^ of elevation, less nortbern than that of Bordeaux. 

ilaving landed on this spot, and planted the Cross, we began to work, and with 
our work began our disputes. The cause of these, was that "our Captain La Saus- 
sa}'e amused himself too much in cultivating the earth," and all the principal men 
bej^ged him not to take off our workmen for that, but to apply ourselves without 
delay to dwellings and fortifications, which he did not wish to do. From these 
quarrels sprang others, till the English came to reconcile us, as you will see." 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Our capture by the English. 

" Virginia is that continent of the earth which the ancients called Morosa, 
hetween Florida and New France, at the 36'^, 37°, 'iS^ of elevation. The country 
was first discovered by Giovanni Verraz,zani, in the name of Francis I., as we said 
above, but the English having claimed it since 1593 or 1504, at last came to settle 
there, 7 or 8 years before this time. Their principal settlement, which they call 
Jamestown, is distant from St. Saviour, where we were, settled about 2.50 leagues 
in a straight line. See then, if they had any reason to pick a quarrel with us. 

These Englisli, from Virginia, have the habitof coming every year to the islands 
of PEiMctJiT,"* which are 25 leagues from St. Saviour, to get shell fish (moulues) 
for the winter." 

The account is condensed by Gajrneau in his History of Canada, which we give 
in full. 



GARNEAU'S HISTORY OF CANADA. 
EXTRACT FROM CHAPTER I. 

The destruction of St, Saviour and Port Royal. 

" England claimed the country to the 45° of North latitude, as far as the heart 
of Acadia. France, on the contrary, pretended to claim as far South as the 40^. 
From this strife it happened that, wliile LaSaussaye believed himself to be within 
the boundaries of New France, at St. Saviour, the English said they had advan- 
ced far into their territory. To support their claim, Captain Argall of Virginia, 
resolved to dislodge them, spurred on by the hope of rich booty, and by his pre- 
judices against the Catholics. 

He suddenly appeared before St. Saviour, with a vessel of 14 cannon, and struck 
terror into tiio defenceless inhabitants, who took him for a pirate at first. Father 
Gilbert du Thet in vain opposed some resistance. He was killed and the establish- 

* Pemaquid. 



104 

ment given up to plunder. Everytliiug was taken or sacked, Argall himself sotting 
the example. The French clung "to Acadia on account of the fisheries. The Eng- 
lish, because it was on their route. Argall did not hesitate to attack in time of 
profound peace. Apart from his personal motives, he well knew the opinion of 
his countrymen, who wished to settle the question by taking actual possession. 

To legitimatise this act of piracy, for it was so, he stole La Saussaye's conmiission, 
and affected to regard him and liis people, as vagabonds, (gradually he appeared 
to relent, and proposed to those who had trades to follow him to Jamestown, 
where, after having labored a year, they should be sent back to their country. 
One dozen accepted the offer. The others with La Saussaye and Father Masse, 
prepared to risk themselves upon a frail vessel, to reach the Have, where they 
found a ship from St. Malo, which carried them back to France. 

Those who had Argall's promises, were greatly sui)>iiscd on arriving at James- 
town, to find themselves thrown into prison, and trea'ed like pirates. They vainly 
claimed the fulfilment of the treaty they had made with him, they were condemned 
to death. Argall, who had not dreamed that his theft of La Saussaye's commission 
would end so seriously, would carry his dissimulation no farther; sent the com- 
mission to the Governor, Sir Thomas Dale, and confessed everything. 

This document and information drawn out in the course of the affair, determined 
the Government of Virginia to drive the French from all the points they occupied 
south of the line 45. A squadron of 3 ships was put under the command, of the 
same Argall, to carrv out this design, and the prisoners of St. Saviour were em- 
barked there with Father Biard. Later, Father Biard was accused, without doubt, 
too hastily, of having served as pilot of the enemies to Port Royal, from hatred to 
Biencourt, who was Governor, and with whom he had had ditiiculties while in 
Acadia. 

The fleet commenced bv destroying all that was left of the old settlement of St. 
Croix ; useless vengeance, since that had been deserted for several years ; then 
sailed with a fair wind toward Port Royal where he found nobody ; everybody 
beino- in the fields two leagues away : and in less than two hours all tlie houses were 
reduced to ashes as well as the forti In vain Father Biard wished to persuade the 
inhabitants, drawn to the shore by the flames which devoured their shelter, to go 
away with the English, telling them that their ruined chief could no longer support 
them ; they rejected his advice with anger, and one of them even raised an axe to 
kill him, accu.-iing him of causing all their misfortunes. It was the third time, in 
its short existence, that Port Royal had been destroyed by different accidents, but 
this time the destruction was complete. One part of the "inhabitants scattered in 
the woods, or mingled with the natives ; another reached the settlement that Cham- 
plain had founded on the St. Lawrence. Potrincourt himself, who had remained 
in Acadia, overwhelmed by this last disaster, had to abandon America forever. 

Potrincourt mav be regarded as the real founder of Port Royal, and of Acadia 
itself; for the destruction of Port Royal did not cause the whole province to be 
abandoned; it was alwavs occupied in one place or another by a part of its former 
colonists, to whom numerous adventurers came and united themselves." 



APPENDIX C. 



LETTER OF JOHN SMITH TO LORD BACON, 1618. 

(S. P. O., Am. & W. I., N. Eng.) 

To the Right HouW« S^ Francis Bacon, Knt'- Baron of Verolam, & Lord High 
Chancellor of England. 

Right HoNORABtE : 

Having noe better meanes to acquaint yo' Lp. w"" my meaning than this paper 
the zcale love and dutie to God my Country and yo"^ honor I humbly crave may 
be my apoligie. This 19 yeares I have encountered noe fewe dangers to learne 
what here I write in these fewe leaves, and though the lines they containe are 
more rudely phrased then is meete for the viewe of so great a judgment, their 



105 

frutes I am cprtayno may bring both wealth & honor for a Crownp & a kingdom 
to his Ma''" posterity. 'J'he profitts already returned w"' so small charge & lacili- 
tie according to proportion emboldens me to say it. 

With a stock of ;£5000 1 durst venture to efioct it, though more tlian £100,000 
hath been spent in Virginia & the Barmudas to small purpose, about the j)ro- 
curing whereof many good men kuowes 1 have spent noc small tyme labor nor 
mony : but all in vaine. No""h standing within these fower yeares 1 have occa- 
sioned twice £5000 to be employed that way : But great dcsyres to ingross it hath 
bred so many particular humors, as they have their willes, 1 the losse and the gen- 
crall good the wrong. 

Should I present it to tlio Ciskayners, French or Hollanders, tliey have made 
me large offers. But nature doth binde me thus to bcgg at home, whonie stiangers 
have pleased to make a Comander abroad. The busines being of such consciiuence 
I hold it but my duty to acquaint it to yo' honor, knowing you are not only a chiefe 
I'atron of yo' C'ountric & state, but also the greatest favorer of all good designes 
and their authors. 

Noe more, but humbly beseeching yo' goodness to pardon my rudeness & ponder 
my plainc meaning in tiie ballance of goodwille 1 leave the substance to the discre- 
tion of your most admired judgment, ever resting Yc honors 
ever most truly devoted, 

Jo Smith. 

Newe England is a part of America betwixt the degrees of 41 & 45 the very 
meane betweene the Kortli I'ole and the line, from 43 to 45. The Coast is moun- 
taynous, rockye, barren & broken Isles tliat make many good harbours, the water 
being deepe, close to the shore. There is many Itivers & fresh springs, a fewe 
Savages, but an incredible aboundauce of lish, fowlcs, wilde fruits & good store of 
Timber. 

From 43 to 41^ an excellent mixed coast of stone sand & claj-, much corne, many 
people, some Isles, many ^'ood harbors, a temperate aire yron & Steele, oare & 
many other such good blessings, that having but men skillful to make them simples 
there growing, 1 dare ingage myself to linde all things beluiiging to the Iniilding & 
rigging of shippes of any proportion & good 3Iercli;in(lize for tliiir fr:uij;lit within 
a square of 10 or 14 leagues. 25 liarbors I sounded : 3o sevenill J^urdshipps J sawe, 
and as nere as I could imagine 3000 men, I was up one Kiver fortie myles, crossed 
the moutlies of many whose heads the Inhabitants report, are great Lakes, where 
they kill their beavers inhabited w* many people that trade with them of Newe 
England and those of Canada. 

The Benefit op Fishing. 

The Hollanders raise yearly by fishing (if recordos be true) more than £2,000,000 

From Newfoundland at the least £ 400,000 

From Island & North Seea £ 150,000 

From Hamborough £ 20,000 

From Cape Blanke £ 10,000 

These five places doc serve all Europe as well the Land Townes as Ports & all 
the Christian shipping with these sorts of staple fish which is transported from 
whence it is taken many a thousand myle— Herring, Poor John, Saltfish, Sturgeon, 
Mullett, Pargos, Caviare, Buttargo. 

Now seeing all these sortes of fish may be had in a land more fertile, temperate 
& plentifull of natural things for the building of Shipps, boatcs, howses & the 
nourishment for man only for a little labour or the most part of the chiefe mate- 
rially, the seasons are so proper and the fishing so iieare the habitations we may 
there make. 

That New England hath much advantage of the most of those parts to serve all 
Europe farr cheaper, than they can who have neither wood, salt nor food but at 
a great rate, nothing to hclpe them but what they carry in their shipps 2 or 300 
leagues from their habitacons noe I'ort or Harbour but the mayne sea: Wee the 
fishing at our dores & the help of the land for woods, water, friiites, fowle, Corne 
or what we want to refresh us when we list. And the Terceras Maderas, Canaries, 
Spaine, Portugal!, Province, Savoy, Cecilia, and all Italye as convenient Markets, 
for our drye fish, green fish, sturgeon, mullett and Buttargo as Norway, Swethland, 
Luttvania, Polonia, Denmarke or Germany for their Herring which is here also 
in aboundancc for taking; they retourniug" but Wood, Pitcli, Tarre, Soape Ashes, 
Cordage & such grosse coinodities : we wynes, oyles, sugars, sUkes & such mer- 
chandize as the Straits aftbrd, whereby our protitt may equalize theirs. Besides 
the infinite good by increase of shipping & Marriners this fishiugc would breede 
And imployment for the surplusage of many of his Ma"" unruly subjects. And 
that this may be, these are my proofes, (viz'): 

1 Proofe. ( In the vear l(ii4 with two shipps I went from the Dounes the third 

1014. ) of March" arrixcd in New England the last of April). I had but 45 

men & boycs, we built seven boatcs, 37 did fish, myself with 8 others raungiug the 

14 



lOG 

Coast. I made this Mappe, gott the acqiiainntance of the Inhabitants, 1000 Beaver 
skins 100 martins and as many Otters. 40,000 of drye fish wo sent for Spaine with 
Saltiisli, Trainc oyle & furrs. 1 retourned for England the 18th of Jnly & arrived 
safe with my Company in health in tlie latter end of Angust. Thns in Six mouths 

1 made my voyage out and home & by the labour of 45 men got nore the value 
of 1500.£ in lesse than three moneths in those grosse Comodityes. 

2 I'ROOFB. ) In the year 1615 the Londoners uppon this seut 4 good shipps & 

lt)15. ( intcrtayned the men who retourned w"' me. They sot sail iu Jauua- 
rye & arrived there in March & found tish enough till half June, fraughtod a 
shipi) of 300 Tonnes whicli they sent for 8paine, one went to Virginia to relieve 
that Collouy & two came home with saltflsh, Trayuo oyle, furres & the salt — re- 
mayned within six moneths. 

3 I'ROOP'E. I The same year I sett forth from Plymouth w* a shippe of 200 & one 

1615. j of 5i) to inhabit the Countrie according to the Tenor of his Mai''-'=' Com- 
mi-s.sion granted to the West parts of England. But ill weather breaking all my 
Mastes forced me to retourno againe to I'lymouth where reimbarkiug myself in a 
small barke but of 60 Tonnes I passed the English I'yrats and the French; but at 
last I was betrayed by four frenchmen of warr who kept me prisoner that sommer 
& so overthrew my voyage & Plantation During w"'' tyme my Vice Admirall that 
sett forth in March arrived there in May, came home fraught with fish, Trayne oyle. 
Beavers skiunes, and all her men safe in August within 6 monethes and odd dayes. 

4 Proofs. ) Tlie Londoners ere I returned sent two shippes more in July to tryc 

1616. ) the AVinter : but such courses they took by the Canaries, and the In- 
dies, it was 10 moneths ere they arrived wasting in that time their seasons, victu- 
all & healthes yet within 3 months after the one retourned were fraughted with 
fish Trayne oyle & Beavers. 

5 Proofe. ) From Plymouth went 4 shipps only to fish and trade some in Feb- 

1616. ) ruary some in March one of 200 Tonnes got thither iu a moneth and 
went full fraught for Spaino w"' drye tish, the rest retournedall well & safe and 
all full fraught with fish, furres and oyle in 5 moneths and odd dayes. 

6 Proofe. I From London went two more one of 220 tonnes "got thither in 6 

1616. ) weekes & within 6 weekcs after w"' 44 men was fraughted with fish, 

furres and oyle & was again iu England within 5 monothis & a few dayes. 

7 Proofe. I Being at Plymouth provided w'i'3 good shippes I was wiudeboufide 

1617. ) nere 3 monethes as was many a 100 saylo niore so that the season being 
past I sent my shippes to Newfoundland whereby the adventures had noe losse. 
1618. There is 4 or 5 saile gone thither this year to tisli ami trade from London 
also there is one gone only to tish and trade, each shippe for her particular designe 
and thiir private cndes, but none for any generall good, where neither to Virginia, 
lun- to the ISernuulrts they make such hast. 

By this yo' Loi' may perceive the ordinary performance of this voyage in 6 
monethes, the plenty of tish that is most certainly approved & if I be not misin- 
formed from Cannada & New England mthin these 4 veares hath been gotten by 
the French and English nere 36,000 Beavers skiunes: that all sorts of Timber for 
shipping is most plentifully there ; All those w^ retourned can testifye and if ought 
of this bo untrue is easily proved. 

The worst is of these 16 shippes 2 or 3 of them have been taken by Pyrates, w^h 
hath putt such feare in poore tishermeu, whoso powers are but weake. And the 
desyre of gaine iu Merchants so violent: every one so regardiuo; his private, that 
it is worse than slaverye to follow any inibli(|ue good, & impossible to bring them 
into a bodye, rule or order, unless it be by s(nne extraordinary power. But if his 
Ma'"'? would be please to be perswadod t<i spare us but a Pinnace to lodge my men 
in and defend us & the Coast from such invasions the space of eight or ten monethes 
only till we were seated, I would not doubt but ere long to drawe the most part of 
Newfound Land men to assist us if I could bo so provided but in due season : 
for now ere the Savages grow subtle and the Coast be too much frequented with 
• strangers more may be done w"' £20 than hereafter with a £100. 

The Charge. — the Charge of this is only Salt, Notts, Hooks, Lynes, Knives, 
Course Cloth, Beades, Glasse, llatclietts anil snob tiashe, only for fishing & trade 
w'l' the sa\agos, that have desyred nie to inlmbitt whore I willo and all these 
shippes have been fished within a square of two leagues the Coast being of the 
same Condition the length of two or three hundreii leagues, where questionles 
within one hundred 500 sayle may have their frauglit better than iu Iseland New- 
foundlande or elsewhere, and beat their marketts ere the other can have their tish 
_, . iu their shippes. From the west part of England the shippes goe for 

of the the third part that is when the voyage is done the goods are divided 

Plantation. i"to three parts (viz.) oue third for the Shippe: one for the Company 
the other for the Victualler, whereby with a stock of £5000 1 goe forth 
w* a charge of £15000 for the transporting this Collonyo will cost little or nothing 
but at the tirst, because the fishing will goe forward "whether we plant it or noe, 
for the fishers report it to be best they knbwe in the Sea and the laud iu a short 
time may be more profitable. 

Now if a Shippe can gain 50 or £60 iu the 100 only by fishing, spending as much 



107 



tymc in going & coming as in staying there were 1 tlicrc planted soing tlie fisli in 
their seasons serveth tlie most jtart ot'tlie ycarc and w"' a litlu hibour I could make 
all the salt I need use I can conceive noe reason to distrust, but double & triple 
their gaines that are at all the former charge & can tish but two monethcs. And 
if those do give 20, 30 or40« for an acre of ground or Shipp Carpenters, Forgers of 
yron or Steele, that buy all thinges at a dear rate grow rich wlien they may have 
as good of all needful necessaryes for taking in my opinion should not growe poore 
and no comoditye in Europe doth decay more than wood. 

Thus Kight honb'i' & most worthy I'eere I have thrown my Mite into the Treas- 
ure of my Countries good beseeching your Lop well to consider of it & examine 
whether Columbus could give the Spaniards any such certaintycs for his grounds, 
when he got 15 saile from (Juecne Isabell of Spaine when all the great judgments 
of Europe refused him! And though I can promise noe myncs of gold the Hol- 
landers are an example of my project wliose endeavourcs by Hsliing cannot be sup- 
pressed by all the Kingc of Spaines golden powers. Truth is more than wealth 
& industrious subjects are more available to a king than gold. And this is so cer- 
taine a course to get both as 1 thinke was never propounded to any .State for so 
small a charge, seeing I can prove it, both by example, reason, and experience. 
How I have lived spent my tyme & bene employed, 1 am not ashamed who will ex- 
amine. Therefore I humbly beseech Yo' Hon' seriously to consider of it and lett 
not the povertie of the author cause the action to be less respected, who desyres no 
better fortune tlian he could find there. 

In the interim I humbly desyre yo'^ Hon'' would be pleased to grace me wth the 
title of yo"^ Ldi« servant^ Not that I desyre to shut upp the rest ot my dayes in the 
chamber of ease and idleness, but that thereby I may be better countenanced for 
the prosecution of this my most desyred voyage, for had I the patronage of so ma- 
ture a judgment as yo' honors it would not only induce those to believe what I 
know to bo true in this matter who will now hardly vouchsafe the perusall of my 
relations, but also be a meanes to further it to the uttermost of their powers w* 
their purses. And I .slial bo ever ready to spend both and goods for the honor of 
my Country & yo' Loi» sci'vice, with w*^'' resolution I doe in all humility rest 

At Yc Hono" service. 

To show the difference betwixt Virginia and Now England I have annexed 
mappes of them botli and tliis schedule w^i" will shew the difference of the old 
names from the new on the Map of New England : 



The Ould Names. 

Cape Cod, 

Chawum, 

Accomack, 

Sagoquas, 

Massachusetts mount, 

Massachusetts river, 

Totant, 

A country not discov', 

Naemkeeke, 

Cape Trabigranda, 

Aggawom, 

Smithes Isles, 

Passataquack, 

Accomiuticus, 

Sassanoweo Jlount, 

Sowacatuck, 

Bahaaa. 

Aucociscoes Mount, 

Aucocisco, 

Aumonglicawgcn, 

Kinebeck, 

Sagadahock, 

l'emma(|uid, 

Monaliigan, 

Segocket, 

Mattinuock, 

Mettiuicus, 

Mecadacut, 

Tenobscot, 

Kasket, 



The New. 

Cape James, Milford Haven. 

Bar wick, 

Plimoutli. 

Oxford. 

Chevit Hill. 

Charles Kiver. 

Fawmotli. 

Bristow. 

Bastable. 

Cape Annp. 

Southampton. 

Smiths Isles. 

Hull. 

Boston. 

Snoddon Hill. 

Ipswtch. 

Dartmouth. 

Sandwich. 

Shooters Hill. 

The Base. 

Cambridge. 

Edenborough. 

Leeth. 

S'. Johns Townc. 

Barties Isles. 

Norwich. 

Willoughbyes Isles. 

Houghtons Isles. 

Dunbarton. 

Aborden. 

Lowinonds. 



108 

ARTICLES OF THE LEYDEN CHURCH, 1618. 

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON. 

Colonial, Vol. I. No. 43. 

[The following Taper is referred to in note 1, page 64, ante.] 

Seven artikles w"* y Church of Leydeu sent to y« Counsel! of England to bee con- 
sidered of in respect of theer judgments occationed about theer going to Vir- 
finia, ann" 1618. 
. To y<= confession of fayth published in y^ name of ye Church of England & to 
every artikell thecrof wee do w"" y reformed-churches wheer wee live, and also 
ellswhere assent wholy. 

2. As wee do ackuolidg y docktryne of fayth theer tawght so do wee y" ti-uits & 
cffeckts of ye same doctryuo to y begetting of saving fayth in thowsauds in y land 
(conformists and reformists) as y" ar called w"' whom also as w"i our bretheren 
wee do desyer to koepe sperituall communion in j)eace and will pracktiz in our 
parts all lawfull things. 

3. The Kings Maiesty wee ackuolidg for Supreme Governer in his dominions in 
all causes over all parsons, & y' none maye deklyne or apeale from his authority 
or judgment in any cause whatsoever, but y' in all things obedience is dewe ounto 
hime, ctlicr aetiveif y" thing commanded bee not agaynst g^ods word, or passive yf 
itt bee except pardon can be obtayned. 

4. Wee judg itt lawfull for his Maiesty to apoynt bishops civill overseers or offi- 
cers in awthoVyty onder hime, in ye severall provinces, dioses, congregations, or 
parishes to oversee y<^ churches and governe them civilly according to y"= lawes of 
ye land untto whom y ar in all things to geve an account & by them to be ordered 
according to nodlyues. 

5. 'Jill- nuthnrity of y" present bishops in y" land wee doacknowlidg so far forth 
as y same is indeed derived from his Maiesty untto them and as y prosced in his 
name, whom wee will also therein honor in all things and hime in them. 

6. Wee beleeve y' no sinod, classes, convocation or assembly of eclesiasticall 
officers hath any power or authority att all but as y same by y^ maiestraet geven 
unto them. 

7. Lastly woe desyer to geve unto all superiors dewe honnor to preserve y^ unity 
of ye Speritt w* all y' feare god, to have peace w"' all men what in us lyoth and 
wheerin wee err to bee instruekrd by any. 

iSubseribed liy Jolni Robinson and Willyam Bruster. 
indorsed. Copy of Seven Artikles sent untto y Counsell of England by yc 
Brownists of Leyden. 



APPENDIX D. 



Trade Papers, State Paper Office, V. 55. 

To the Kingcs most excellent Majestie. 

The most humble peticon of y-^ Ma'J" counccll for the second colonic, and other 
the adventurers in the Western partes of England for the plantation in the North 
partes of Virginia in America. 
May it please yo' Most excellent Majestie, 

Whereas it pleased yo^ Ma"" by y^ most gratious L"' patentes bearing date 
the loth of Aprlll in the fowerth yearo of yo"- Ma"" most blessed raigac to give 



109 

lyccnco for tlic cstablisliingo of two colonics in Virginic in America, tlic one 
called the First Colonie undertaken Ijy certaine noble men kniglites and mer- 
chants about London ; the other called the Second Colonic likewise undertaken 
by certaine knightes g-entlemen and merchants of the Western partes ; by vertue 
whereof some of the Western parts hath at their greate charg and extreme hazard 
continued to endeavour to discov a place fittto entertaine sucli a designe, as also 
to find the mcanes to bring to passe soe noble a worke ; in the constant pursuit 
whereof it hath pleased God to ayde them with his blessing so far as in the confi- 
dence of the continewauce of His (iraoe, they are resolved to pursue the same 
with all the power and ijieanes they are able to make, to His glorie, yo' Ma"" 
honour and the publique good of the countrye. 

And as it pleased y Ma"" to be gracious to those of the first colonie in enlarg- 
ingc of the first patent two seavall times with many jirivileges & immunities 
according to y princely bountyo, wherebye they have bin incouraged in their 
proceedings : yo' Peticoners do in all humilitie desire that yo' Ma"'= will voutch- 
afe unto them the like, that they ma3' wh more boldness go on as they have 
begun, to the satisfaction of y Ma'"™ most religious expectacon, with the altera- 
con only of some few things and the additions here insueing. 

First, that territories where yo' peticoners make their plantacon may be caled 
(as by the Prince His Highness it hath bin named) NEW ENGL^VJSJD, that the 
boundes thereof may be setled from 40 to 45 degress of Northerly latitude and 
see from sea to sea through the maine as the coast Ij'eth, and that yc Ma" coun- 
sell residing here in England for that plantacon may consist of a President, Vice 
President, Treasurer, Secretary, and other their associates, to be chosen out of 
the noble men and knights adventurers home about London, & others the adven- 
turers both knio-htes gentlemen and merchants in the Western countryes ; so as 
the said eouncell does not exceede the number of 40 who as one incorijorate bodye 
may as often as neede requires be assembled when and where the P'sident or 
Vicp'sident, wti" the Treasurer and Secretary or any two of them, to be assisted 
w"' five or three others of the counsell shall think most convenient for that Ser- 
vice ; whereby j'o'' Ma'= most humble peticoners doth verily hope, by Gods holy 
assistance to settle their plantacon to the imploi'eing of many of yor Ma<« Sub- 
jects and the content of all tliat are well disposed to the prosperitie of yo^ Ma"^ 
most happy raigne. 

And soe yo' Ma» most humble peticoners shalbe bound as in duty they are to 
pray for all increase of glory & perpetuall happiness to yo' Ma"" blessed posteritie 
fcr ever. 

March, 1G19. Upon readin^e of this peticon, their Lips, did order that the Lo. 
Duke of Lenox, Lo. Steward ol his Ma"' Household, and the Earl of Arundel! 
shall take notice of the peticon, consider of the demands for privileges, and there- 
upon certifie their opinions to their Lips, that such further order "may be taken 
as shalbe meete. 

(Signed) C. EDMONDES. 



Warrant to Prepare a Patent for the Northern Cojipany of Virginia. 
Present.— Lo. Chancellor Lo. Digby 

Lo. Privy Scale Mr Comptroler 

E. of Arundoll Mr Secy Calvert 

E of Southampton M>" Secy Nauton 

Lo Bp of Winton M"" of the Roles 

Mr of the Wardes. 



A Let^ to S" Thomas Coventrie, Knight, his majes Solicitor General. 

WHEREAS it is thought fitt that a Patent of Incorporation be granted to the 
Adventurers of the Northern colonyo in Virginia to containe the like liberties, 
priviledges, powers, authorities. Lands, and all other things within their lymits 
vizt between the degrees of 40 and 48 as were heretofore granted to the comi)anie 
of Virginia. Excepting only that whereas the said companie have a freedom of 
custome and subsidie for xxi yeares, and of impositions for ever, this new comjja- 
nie is to be free of custome and Subsidie for the like term of yeares, and of Impo- 
sitions for so long tyme as his Ma"'-' shall be pleased to grant unto them. These 
shall be therefore to will and require you to prepare a Patent rcadie for his 
ma'«^ royall signature, to the purpose aforesaid, leaving a blank for the tyme of 
freedom of impositions to be supplied and put iu by his'Ma"'-' and for wliich this 
shall be your Warrant. Dated, &c. 



110 

THE NEW ENGLAND CHARTER. 

JAIMES, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, 
Defender of the Faith, 6fc. to all whom these Presents shall come, Greeting, 
Whereas, upon the liumble Petition of divers of our well disposed Subjects, tliat 
intended to make several Phmtations in the Parts of America, between the De- 
grees of thirty -ftbure and fforty-ftve ; We according to our princely Inclination, 
iFavouring much their worthy Disposition, in Hope thereby to advance the in 
Largement of Christian Religion, to the Glory of God Almighty, as also by that 
Meanes to streatch out the Bounds of our Dominions, and to replenish those 
Deserts with People governed by the Lawes and Majestrates, for the peaceable 
Commerce of all, that in time to come shall have occasion to traffic^ue into those 
Territoryes, granted unto Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers, Knights, Thomas 
Hanam, and Raleujh Gilbert, Esquires, and of their Associates, for the more speedy 
Accomplishment thereof, by our Letters-Patent, bearing Date the Tenth Day of 
Axn-ill, in the Fourth Year of our Reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of 
Scotland the tfourtieth, free Liberty to divide themselves into two several Collo- 
neys ; tlie one called the first Collonye, to be undertaken and advanced by cer- 
taine Knights, Gentlemen_, and Merchants, in andabovit our Cyty of London ; the 
other called the Second Colonye, to be undertaken and advanced by certaino 
Knii;hts, Gentlemen, and Merchants, and their Associates, in and about our 
Citties of BristoU, Exon, and our Towne of Plymouth, and other Places, as in 
and by our said Letters-Pattents, amongst other Things more att large it doth 
and may appeare. And whereas, since that Time, upon the humble Petition of 
the said Adventurers and Planters of the said first Collonye, We have been gra- 
ciously pleased to make them one distinct and entire Body by themselves, giving 
unto them their distinct Lymitts and Bounds, and have upon tlieir like humble 
Request, granted unto them divers Liberties, Privileges, Enlargements, and Im- 
munityes, as in and by our severall Letters-Patents it doth and may appeare. 
Now forasmuch as We have been in like Manner humbly petitioned unto by our 
trusty and well beloved Servant, Sir Jferdinando Gorges, Knight, Captain of our 
ffort and Island by Plymouth, and by certain the principal Knights and Gentle- 
men Adventurers of the said Second Collonye, and by divers' other Persons of 
Quality, who now intend to be their Associates, divers of which have been at 
great and extraordinary Charge, and sustained many Losses in seeking and dis- 
covering a Place fltt and convenient to lay the Foundation of a hopeful Planta- 
tion, and have divers Years past by God's Assistance, and their own Endeavours, 
taken actual Possession of the Continent hereafter mentioned, in our Name and 
to our Use, as Sovereign Lord thereof, and have settled already some of our 
People in Places agreeable to their Desires in those Parts, and in Confidence of 
prosperous Success jtherein, by the Continuance of God's Devino Blessing, and 
our Royall Permission, have resolved in a more plentifuU and effectual Manner 
to prosecute the same, and to that Purpose and Intent have desired of Us, for 
their better Encouragement and Satisfaction herein, and that they may avoide 
all Confusion, Questions, or Diflerences between themselves, and those of the said 
first Collonye, We would likewise be graciously pleased to make certaine Ad- 
venturers, intending to ei'ect and establish ffishery. Trade, and Plantacion; 
within the Territoryes, Precincts and Lymitts of the said second Colony, and 
their Successors, one several distinct and entire Body, and to grant unto them, 
such Estate, Liberties, Priveleges, Enlargements, and Immunityes there, as in 
these our Letters-Patents hereafter particularly exijressed and declared. And 
forasmuch as We have been certainly given to understand by divers of our good 
Subjects, that have for these many Yeares jjast frequented those Coasts and Ter- 
ritoryes, between the Degrees of Fourty and rourt3'-Eight, that there is noe 
other the Subjects of any Christian King or State, by any Authority from their 
Soveraignes, Lords, or Princes, actually in Possession of any of the said Lands, 
or Precincts, whereby any Right, Claim, Interest, or Title, may, might, or ouglit 
by that Meanes accrue, belong, or apjjertaine unto them, or any of them. And 
also for that We have been further given certanly to knowe, that within these 
late Yeares there hath by God's Visitation raigued a wonderfull Plague, together 
with many horrible Slaughters, and Murthers, committed amoungst the Sauages 
and bruitish People there, heertofore inhabiting, in a Manner to the utter Des- 
truction, Deuastacion, and Depopulacion of that whole Territoiye, so that there 
is not left for many Leagues together in a manner, any that doe claime or chal- 
lenge any Kind of Interests therein, nor any other Superior Lord or Souveraignc 
to iuake Claime thereunto, whereby We in our Judgment are persuaded and 
satisfied that the appointed Time is come in which Almighty God in his great 
Goodness and Bountie towards Us and our People, hath thought fitt and deter- 
mined, that those large and goodly Territoryes, deserted as it were by their 
naturall Inhabitants, should be possessed and enjoyed Ity such of our Subjects 
and People as heertofore have and hereafter shall by his Mercic and Favour, and 
by his PowerfuU Anno, bo directed and conducted thither. In Contcmplaciou 



Ill 

and serious Considcracion whereof, Woo have thnuiiht it fitt accordiiif!; to onr 
Kingly Duty, see unicli as in Us lyeth, to second and rollnwc (Jod's siiered Will, 
rendering reverend Thank?: t,, his Divine Ma.jestie for liis ^racimis favour in lay- 
ing open and revealing the same unto us, before anj' other Cliri.-tian I'rinee or 
State, by which Meanes without Offence, and as VVe trust to his Glory, Wee 
may with boldness goe on to tlie settling of so lioiiefuU a Work, which teudeth to 
the reducing and Conversion of such Sauages ;is reniaine wandering in Desolaciou 
and Distress, to Civil Societie and Christian Keligion, to the Inlargement of our 
own Dominions, and the Aduancenient of the Fortunes of such of our good Sub- 
jects as shall willingly intresse theiuselves in the said Iniploi'ment, to whom We 
cannot hut give smgular Commendations for their soe worthy Intention and 
Enterprizo ; We therefore, of our especiall Grace, mere Motion^ and certaine 
Knowledge, by the Aduice of the Lords and others of our Priuy Councell have 
for Us, our Heyrs and Successors, graunted, ordained, and established, and in 
and by these Presents, Do for Us, oiir Heirs and Successors, grant, ordalne and 
estaljlish, that all that Circuit, Continent, Precincts, and Limitts m America, 
lying and being in Breadth from Fourty Degrees of Northerly Latitude, from the 
Equnoctiall Line, to Fourty-eight 'Degrees of the said jS'ortherly Latitude, and 
in Length by all the Breadth aforesaid throughout the Maine Land, from Sea to 
Sea, with all the Seas, Rivers, Islands, Creekes, Inletts, Ports, and Havens, 
within the Degrees, Precincts, and Limitts of the said Latitude and Longitude, 
shall lie the Ltmitts, and Bounds, and Precincts of the second Collony : And 
to the End that the said Territoryes may forever hereafter be more particularly 
and certainly known and distinguished, our Will and Pleasure is,- that the same 
shall from henceforth be nominated, termed, and called by the Name of New 
England, in America ; and by that Name of New-England in America, the said 
Circuit, Precinct, Limitt, Continent, Islands, and Places in America, aforesaid, 
We do by these Presents, for Us, our Hejrs and Successors, name, call, erect, 
found and establish, and by that Name to liave Continuance for ever. And for 
the better Plantacion. ruling, and governing of tlie aforesaid New-England, in 
America, We will, oraaine, constitute, assigne, limitt and appomt, and for Us, 
our Heyrs and Successors, Wee, by the Advice of the Lords and others of tlie said 
priuie Couneill, do by these Presents ordaine, constitute, limett, and appoint, 
that from henceforth,' there shall be forever hereafter, in ourTowueof Plj'mouth, 
in the County of Devon, one Body politicque and corporate, which shall have per- 
petuall Succession, which shall consist of the Number of fourtie Persons, and no 
more, which shall be, and shall be called and knowne bj- the Name the Couneill 
established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon for the planting, ruling, order- 
ing, and governing of N ew-England, in America ; and for that Piu-pose Wee have, 
at and by^the Nomination and Request of the said Petitioners, granted, ordained, 
established, and confirmed ; and by these Presents, for Us, our Heyres and Suc- 
cessors, doe grant, ordaine, establish, and confirme, our right trust}' and right well 
beloved Cosins and Councillors Lodowiek, Duke of Lenox, Lord Steward of our 
Household, George Lord Marquess Buckingham, our High Admiral of England, 
James Marquess Hamilton, William Earle of Pembroke, Lord Chamberlaine of our 
Household, Thomas Earl of Arundel, and our right trusty and right well beloved 
Cosin, William Earl of Bathe, and right trusty and right well beloved Cosin and 
Councillor, Henry Earle of Southampton, and our right trusty and right well 
beloved Cousins, William Earle of Salisbury, and Robert Earle of Warwick, and 
our right trusty and well beloved John Viscount Haddington, and our right 
trusty and well beloved Councillor Edward Lord Zoueh, Lord TVarden of our 
Cinque Ports, and our trusty and well beloved Edmund Lord Sheffield, Edward 
Lord Gorges, and our well iiclovcd Sir Edwar<l Seymour, Kniglit and Barrouett, 
Sir Robert Manselle, Sir Echvard Zciuch, our Kniglit Marshall, Sir Dudley Diggs, 
Sir Thomas Roe, Sir fferdinando (iorges. Sir Francis Popham, Sir John Brook, 
Sir Thomas Gates, Sir Richard Hawkins, Sir Richard Edgconibe, Sir Allen Apsley, 
Sir Warwick Hale, Sir Richard Catchmay, Sir John "Bouchier, Sir Nathaniel 
Rich, Sir Edward Giles, Sir Giles Mompesson, and Sir Thomas W^orth, Knights ; 
and our well beloved Matthew Sutclifl'e, Deane of Eseter, Robert Heath, Esq; 
Recorder of our Cittie of Loudon, Henry Bourchier, John Drake, Rawleigh Gil- 
bert, George Chudley, Thomas Hamon, and John Argall, Esquires, to be in and 
by these Presents ; We do appoint them to be the first moderne and present 
Couneill established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the planting, 
ruling, ordering, and governing of New-England, in America ; and that they, 
and the Suruiuours of them, and such as the" Suruiuours and Suruiucu- of them 
shall, from tyme to tyme elect, and chuse, to make up the aforesaid Number of 
fourtie Persons, when, and as often as any of them, or an.v of their Successors 
shall happen to decease, or to he removed from being of the said Couneill, shall 
be in, and by these Presents, incorporated to have a i3eri)etual Succession for 
ever, in Deed, Fact, and Name, and shall be one Bodi'e corporate and politicque; 
and that those, and such said Persons, and their Successors, and sucli as shall 
be elected and chosen to succeed them as aforesaid, shall be, and by these Pres- 
ents are, and be incorporated, named, and called by the Name of the Couneill 



112 

cstablishert at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the plantina;, ruling, and 
governing of New-England, in America ; and them the said Diike of Lenox, 
Marquess Buckingham. Marquess Hamilton, Earle of Pembroke, Earle of Arun- 
dcll, Earle of Bathe, Earle of Soutluimpton, Earle of Salisbury, Earle of War- 
wick, Viscount Haddington, Lord Zoucli, Lord fSlieflield, Lord Gorges, Sir Edward 
Seymour, Sir Hubert Mansell, Sir Edward Znuch, Sir Dudley Diggs, Sir Tliomas 
Roe, Sir fferdinandd Gorges, Sir flfrancis Pcipliam, Sir John Brooks', Sir Thomas 
Gates, Sir Richard Hawkins, Sir Ricliard Edgcombe, Sir Allen Apsley, Sir War- 
wick lleale. Sir Richard Catchmay, Sir Jolm Bouchier, Sir Nathaniell Rich, Sir 
Edward Giles, Sir Giles Mompesson, Sir Thomas Wroth, Knights; Matthew 
Suttcliffe, Robert Heath, Henry Boureliier, Jolm Drake, Rawleigli Gilbert, 
George Chudley, Thomas Haymon, and John Argall, Esqrs. and their Successors, 
one Bodye corporate and politick, in deed and Name, by the Name of the Coun- 
cell establislied att Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, 
and governing of New -England, in America. Wee do by these Presents, for Us, our 
Heyres and Successors, really and fully incorporate, erect, ordaine, name, consi- 
tute, and establish, and that by the same Name of the said Councill, they and 
their Successors for ever hereafter be incorporated, named, and called, and shall 
by the same Name have perpetual Succession. And further. We do hereby for 
Us, our Heires and Successors, grant unto the said Councill established att Ply- 
mouth, that they and their Successors, by the same Name, be and shall be, and 
shall continue Persons able and capable in the Law, from time to time, and shall 
l)y that Name, of Councill aforesaid, have full Power and Authority, and lawful 
Capacity and Hability; as well to purchase, take, hold, receive, enjoy, aud to 
have, and their Successors for ever, any Manors, Lands, Tenements, Rents, Roy- 
alties, Privileges, Immunities, Reversions, Annuities, Hereditaments, Goods and 
Chatties whatsoever, of or from Us, our Heirs and Successors, and of or from any 
other Person or Persons whatsoever, as well in and within this our Realme, of 
England, as in and within any other Place or Places whatsoever or wheresoever; 
andthe same Manors, Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, Goods, or Chatties, 
or an3^ of them, bj' the same Name to alien and sell, or to do, execute, ordaine 
and iterforme all other Matters and Tilings whatsoever to the said Incorporation 
and Plantation concerning and belonging. And further, our Will and Pleasure 
is, that the said Councill,"for the time being, and their Successors, shall have full 
Power and lawful Authority, by the Name aforesaid, to sue, and be sued ; im- 
plead, and to be impleaded ; answer, and to be answered, unto all Manner of 
Courts and Places that now are, or hereafter shall be, within this our Realme aud 
elsewhere, as well temporal as spiritual, in all Manner of Suits and Matters 
whatsoever, and of what Nature or Kinde soever such Suite or Action be or shall 
be. And our Will and Pleasure is, that the said fifourty Persons, or tlie greater 
Number of them, shall and may, from time to time, and at any time hereafter, 
at their owne Will and Pleasure, according to the Laws, Ordinances, and Orders 
of or by them, or by tlie greater Part of them, hereafter in Manner and forme in 
these Presents mentioned, to be agreed upon, to elect and choose amongst them- 
selves one of the said ffourty Persons for the Time lieing, to be President of the 
siaid Councill, wliich President soe elected and chosen, Wee will, shall continue 
and 1)0 Prcsiilent of the said Councill, for so long a Time as by the Orders of the 
said Cduneill, from time to time to be made, as hereafter is mentioned, sliall be 
thought fitt, and no longer ; unto wliicli President, or in his Absence, to any such 
Person as by the Order of the said Councill shall be thereunto appointed. Wee 
do give Authority to give Order for tlie warning of the said Council, and sum- 
moning the Company^to their Meetings. And our Will and Pleasure is, that from 
time to time, when and so often as any of the Councill shall happen to decease, or 
to be removed from being of the said Councell, that then, and so often, the Surviv- 
ors of them the said Councill, and no other, or the greater Number of them, who 
then shall be from time to time left remainingc, and who shall, or the greater 
Number of which that shall be assembled at a public Court or Meeting to l)e lield 
for the said Company, shall elect and choose oue or more other Person or Persons 
to be of the said Councill, and which from time to time shall be of the said Coun- 
cill, so that the Number of fifourty Persons of the said Councill may from time to 
time be supplied : Provided always that as well the Persons herein named to be 
of tlie said Councill, as every other Councillor hereafter to be elected, shall be 
presented to the Lord Chancellor of England, or to the Lord High Treasurer of 
England, or to the Lord Chamberlaine of the Household of Us, our Heirs and 
Successors for the Time being, to take his and their Oatli and Oathes of a Coun- 
cellor and Councellors to Us, our Heirs and Successors, for tlie said Company and 
Collonye in New-England. And further, Wee will grant by these Presents, for Us, 
our Heires and Successors, unto the said Councill and their Successors, that they 
and tiieir Successors shall have and enjoy for ever a Common Seale, to be engraven 
according to their Discretions ; and that it shall be lawfuU for them to appoint 
whatever Seale or Scales, they shall think most meete and necessary, either for 
their Uses, as they are one United Body incorporate here, or for the publick of 
their Gouvernour and Ministers of New-England aforesaid, whereby the Incorpo- 



113 

ration may or sliall scale any Manner of Instrument touching tlie same Corpora- 
tion, and the Manors, Lands, Tenements, Rents, Reversions Annuities, Heredita- 
ments, Goods, Chatties, Affaires, and any other Tilings Ijelonging unto, or in any 
wise appertaininge, touching, or concerning the said Councill and their Success- 
ors, or concerning the said Corporation and Plantation in and by these our Letters- 
Paentsas aforesaid founded, erected, and established. And Wee'do further bj" these 
Presents, for Us, our Ileires and Successors, grant unto the said Councill and their 
Scucessors, that it shall and may be lawfull to and for the said Councill, and 
their Successors for the Time being, in their discretions, from time to time to ad- 
mitt such and so many Person or Persons to be made free and enabled to trade 
traffick unto, withinl| and in New-England aforesaid, and unto every Part and 
Parcel thereof, or to have, possess, or enjoy, any Lands or Hereditaments in 
New-England aforesaid, as they shall think fitt, accordinj^ to the Lawes, Orders, 
Constitutions, and Ordinances, by the said Councill and their Successors from 
time to time to be made and established by Virtue of, and according to the true 
Intent of these Presents, and under such Conditions, Reservations, and agree- 
ments as the said Councill sliall set downe, order and direct, and not otherwise. 
And further, of our especiall Grace, certaine Knowledge, and mere Motion, for 
Us, our Heires and Successors, Wee do by these Presents give and grant full 
Power and Authoriti' to the said Councill and their Successors, that the said 
Councill for the Time being, or the greater Part of tliem, shall and may, from 
time to time, nominate, make, constitute, ordaine, and confirme by sucli Name 
or Names, Sale or Sales, as to them shall seeme Good ; and likewise to revoke, 
discharge, cliange, and alter, as well all and singular. Governors, Oflicers, and 
Ministers, which hereafter shall be by them thought fitt and needful to be made 
or used, as well to attend the Business of the said Company here, as for the Gov- 
ernment of the said Collony and Plantation, and also to make, ordaine, and 
establish all Manner of Orders, Laws, Directions, Instructions, Forms, and Cere- 
monies of Government and Magistrac}' fitt and necessary for and concerning the 
Government of the said Collony and Plantation, so always as the same be not 
contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this our Realme of England, and the same 
att all Times hereafter to abrogate, revoke, or change, not onlj- within the Pre- 
cincts of the said Collony, but also upon the Seas in going and coming to and from 
the said Collony, as they in their good Discretions shall thinke to be fittest for 
the good of the Adventurers and Inhabitants there. And Wee do further of our 
especiall Grace, certaine Knowledge, and mere Motion, grant, declare, and 
ordain, that such principall Governor, as from time to time shall be authorized 
and appointed in Manner and Forme in these Presents heretofore exi)ressed, shall 
have full Power and Authority to use and exercise martiall Laws in Case of Re- 
bellion, Insurrection, and Mutiny, in as large and ample Manner as our Lieut- 
enants in our Counties within our Realme of England have or ought to have by 
Force of their Commission of LieuteuancJ^ And for as much as it shall be ne- 
cessary for all our lovinge Subjects as shall inhabit within the said Precincts of 
New-England aforesaid, to determine to live together in the Feare and true 
Worship of Almighty God, Christian Peace, and Civil Quietness, each with other, 
whereby every one may with more Safety, Pleasure, and Profitt, enjoye that 
whereunto they shall attaine with great Pain and Perill, Wee, for Us, our Heires 
and Successors, are likewise pleased and contented, and by these Presents do 
give and grant unto the said Council and their Successors, and to such Governors. 
Officers, and Ministers, as shall be by the said Councill constituted and appointed 
acoordino; to the Natures and Limitts of their Offices and Places respectively, that 
they shall and may, from time to time for ever heerafter, within the said Pre- 
cincts of New-En^iand, or in the Way by the Seas thither, and ft-om thence have 
full and absolute Power and Authority to correct, punish, pardon, governe, and 
rule all such the Subjects of Us, our Heires and Successors, as shall from time to 
time adventure themselves in any Voyage thither, or that shall att any Time 
Leerafter inhabit in the Precincts or Territories of the said Collonj' as aforesaid, 
according to such Laws, Orders, Ordinances, Directions, and Instructions as by 
the said Councill aforesaid shall be established ; and in Defect thereof, in Cases 
of Necessity, according to the good Discretions of the said Governors and Officers 
respectively, as well in Cases capitall and criminall, as civill, both marine and 
others, so always as the said Statutes, Ordinances, and Proceedings, as near as 
convenientl3' may be, agreeable to the Laws, Statutes, Government and Policie of 
this our Realme of England. And furthermore, if any Person or Persons, Adventur- 
ers or Planters of the said Collony, or any other, att any Time or Times heereafter, 
shall transport any Moneys, Goods, or Merchandizes, out of any of our King- 
doms, with a Pretence or Purpose to land, sell, or otherwise dispose of the same 
within the Limitts and Bounds of the said Colon}', and yet nevertheless being att 
Sea, or after he hath landed within any Part of the said Collony shall carry the 
same into anj^ other fforaigne Country with a Purpose there to sell and dispose 
thereof, that then all the Goods and Chatties of the said Person or Persons so 
offending and transported, together with the Ship or Vessell wherein such Trans- 
portation was made, shall be forfeited to Us, our Heires and Successors. And 

15 



Ill 

Wee do further of our especiall Grace, certaine Knowledge, and meere Motion 
for Us, our Heirs and Successors for and in Respect of the Considerations afore- 
said, and for divers other good Considerations and Causes, us tliereunto espe- 
cially moving, and by the Advice of the Lords and Others of our said Privy 
Councill have absolutely giuen, granted, and contirmed, and do by these Presents 
aJjsolutely give, grant, and confirm unto the said Councill, called the Councill 
established att Plymouth in the County of Devon for the planting, ruling, and 
governing of New-England in America, and unto their Successors for ever, all 
the aforesaid Lands and Grounds, Continent, Precinct, Place, Places and Territo- 
ryes, viz. that aforesaid Part of America, lying, and being in Breadth from 
flourty Degrees of Northerly Latitude from the Equinoctiall Line, to ffourty- 
eight Degrees of the said Northerly Latitude inclusively; and in Length of, and 
within all the Breadth, aforesaid, throughout all Maine Lands from Sea to Sea, 
together also, with the Firnie Lands, Soyles, Grounds, Havens, Ports, Rivers, Wa- 
ters, Fishings, Mines, and Mineralls, as well Royall Mines of Gold and Silver, as 
other Mine and Mineralls, precious Stones, Quarries, and all, and singular other 
Comodities, Jurisdictions, Royalties, Priveliges, Franchises, and Preheminences, 
both within the same Tract of Land upon the Maine, and also within the said Islands 
and Seas adjoining: Provided always, that the said Islands, or any of the Prem- 
ises herein before mentioned, and by these Presents intended and meant to be 
granted, be not actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince 
or Estate, nor be within the Bounds, Limitts, or Territoryes, of that Southern 
Collony heretofore by us granted to be planted by diverse of our loving Subjects 
in the South Part, to have and to hold, possess and enjoj', all, andsingular, 
the aforesaid C^ontinent, Lands, Territoryes, Islands, Hereditaments and 
Precincts, Sea Waters; Fishings, with all, and all Manner their Commodi- 
ties, Royalties, Liberties, Preheminences, and Profitts, that shall arise from 
thence, with all and singular, their Appertenances, and every Part and Par- 
cell thereof, and of them, to and unto the said Councell and their Successors and 
Assignes for ever, the sole only and proper Use, Benefit, and Behoofle of them 
the said Council and their Successors and Assignes for ever, to be holdeu of Us, 
our Heires, and Successors, as of our Manor of East Greenwich, in our County of 
Kent, in free andcomonSoccage and not in Capita, nor by Knight's Service; yield- 
ing and paying therefore to Us, our Heires, our Successors, the fifth Part, of the 
Ore of Gold ami Silver, which from time to time, and att all times heereafter, shall 
happen to be found, gotten, had, and obtained, in or within any the said Lands, 
Limitts, Territoryes, and Precincts, or in or within any Part or Parcell thereof, 
for, or in Respect of all, and all Manner of Dutys, Demands, and Services what- 
soever, to be done, made, or paid to Us, our Heires, and Successors. And Wee 
do further of our especiall Grace, certaine Knowledge, and meere Motion, for Us, 
and our Heires, and Successors, give and grant to the said Councell, and their 
Successors for ever by these Presents, that it shall be lawfull and free for them 
and their Assignes, att all and every time and times hereafter, out of our 
Realmes or Dominions whatsoever, to take, load, carr3', and transport in, and 
into their Voyages, and for, and towards the said Plantation in New-England, 
all such, and so many of our loving Subjects, or any other Strangers that will 
become our loving subjects, and live under our Allegiance, as shall willingly 
accompany them in the said Voyages and Plantation, with Shipping, Armour, 
Weapons, Ordinance, Munition, Powder, Shott, Victuals, and all Manner of 
Cloathing, Implements, Furniture, Beasts, Cattle, Horses, Mares, and all other 
Things necessary for the said Plantation, and for their Use and Defence, and for 
Trade with the People there, and in passing and returning to and fro, without 
paj'ing or yeilding, any Custom or Subsidie inward or outward, to either Us, our 
Heires, or Successors, for the same, for the Space of seven Years, from the Day 
of the Date of these Presents, provided, that none of the said Persons be such as 
shall be hereafter by special Name restrained b.y Us, our Heires; or Successors. 
And for their further Encouragement, of our especiall Grace and Favor, Wee do 
by these Presents for Us, our lleires, and Successors, yield and grant, to and 
with the said Councill and their Successors and every of them, their Factors and 
• Assignes, that they and every of them, shall be free and quittfrom all Subsidies 
and Customs in New-England for the Space of seven Years, and from all Taxes 
and Impositions for the" Space of twenty and one Yeares, upon all Goods and 
Merchandizes att any time or times hereafter, either upon Imjiortation thither, 
or Exportation from thence into our Realme of England, or into any our Do- 
minions by the said Councill and their Successors, their Deputies, ffactors, and 
Assignees, or any of them, except onlj^ the five Pounds per Cent, due for Cus- 
tome upon all such (ioods and Merchandizes, as shall be brot and imported into 
our Realme of England, or any other of our Dominions, according to the ancient 
Trade of Marchants ; which five Pounds per Cent, only being paid, it shall be 
thenceforth lawful and free for the said Adventurers, the same Goods and Mer- 
chandize to export and carry out of our said Dominions into Iforaigne Parts, 
without any Custom, Tax, or other Duty to be paid to Us, our Heires, or Success- 
ors, or to any other Officers or Ministers of Us, our Heires, or Successors ; pro- 



115 

vided, that tlie said Goods and Merchandizes be shipped out within thirteene 
Months after their first Landing within any Part of these Dominions. And 
further our Will and Pleasure is, and Wee do b\' these Presents charge, com- 
mand, warrant, and authorize the said Couneill, and their Successors, or the 
major Part of them, which shall be present and assembled for tliat Purpose, shall 
from time to time under tlieir comon Scale, distribute, convey, assigne, and sett 
over, such particular Portions of Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments, as are 
by these Presents, formerl3' granted unto each our loveing Sul)jects, naturally 
borne or Denizens, or otliers, as well Adventurers as Planters, as by the said 
Company upon a Commission of Survey and Distribution, executed and returned 
for that Purpose, shall be named, appointed, and allowed, wherein our Will and 
Pleasure is, that Respect be had as well to the Proportion of tlie Adventurers, as 
to the speciall Service, Hazard, Exploit, or Meritt of any Person so to be recom- 
pensed, advanced, or rewarded, and wee do also, for Us, our Heires, and Success- 
ors, grant to the said Councell and their Successors and to all and every such 
Governours, or Ofticers, or Ministers, as by the said Couneill shall be appointed 
to have Power and Autliority of Government and Command in and over the said 
Collonj' and Plantation, that the.y and every of them, shall, and lawfully may, 
from time to time, and att all Times hereafter for ever, for their severall De- 
fence and Safety, encounter, expulse, repel, and resist by Force of Arms, as well 
by Sea as by Land, and all Ways and Meanes whatsoever, all such Person and 
Persons, as without the speciall Licence of the said Councell and their Successors, 
or the greater Part of them shall attempt to inhabitt williin the said severall 
Precincts and Limitts of the said Collony and Plantation. And also all, and every 
such person or Persons whatsoever, as shall enterprize or attempt att anj^ time 
hereafter Destruction, Invasion, Detriment, or Annoyance to the said Collony 
and Plantation ; and that it shall be lawfuU for the said Couneill, and their Suc- 
cessors, and every of them, from Time to Time, and att all Times heereafter, and 
they shall have full Power and Authority, to take and surprize by all Ways and 
Meanes whatsoever, all and every such Person and Persons whatsoever, with their 
Ships, Goods, and other Furniture, Trafficking in any Harbour, Creeke, or Place, 
within the Limitts and Precinctes of the said Collony and Plantation, and not 
being allowed by the said Couneill to be Adventurers or Planters of the said Col- 
ony. And of our' further Royall Favor, Wee have granted, and for Us, our Heires, 
Successors, Wee do grant unto the said Couneill and their Successors, that the 
said Territorj'cs, Lands, Rivers, and Places aforesaid, or any of them, shall not 
be visited, frequented, or traded unto, by any other of our Subjects, or the Sub- 
jects of Us, our Heires, or Successors, either from any the Ports and Havens be- 
longing or appertaj'ning, or which shall belong or appertajne unto Us, our 
Heires^or Successors, or to anj' foraigne State, Prince, or Potentate whatsoever: 
And therefore, Wee do hereby for Us, our Heires, and Successors, charge, command, 
prohibit and fovbid all the Subjects of Us, our Heirs, and successors, of what De- 
gree and Quality soever, they be, that none of them, directly, or indirectly, pre- 
sume to visitt, frequent, trade, or adventure to traffick into, or from the said 
Territoryes, Lands, Rivers, and Places aforesaid, or any of them other tlian the 
said Couneill and their Successors, ffactors, Deputys, and Assignees, unless it be 
with the License and Consent of the said Couneill and Company first had and 
obtained in Writing, and the comon Seal, upon Pain of our Indignation and Im- 
prisonment of their Bodys during the Pleasure of Us, our Heires or Successors, 
and tlie Forfeiture and Loss both of theire Ships and Goods, wheresoever they 
shall be found either within any of our Kingdomes or Dominions, or anj- other 
Place or Places out of our Dominions. And for the better eflfccting of our said 
Pleasure heerin. Wee do heerebj- for Us, our Heires and Successors, give and 
grant full Power and Authority unto the said Couneill, and tlieir Successors for 
the time being, that they by themselves, their Factors, Deputyes, or Assignees, 
shall and may from time to time, and at all times heereafter, attach, arrest, take, 
and seize all and all Manner of Ship and Ships, Goods, ^Vares, and Merchandizes 
whatsoever, which shall be bro't from or carried to the Places liefore mentioned, 
or any of them, contrary to our Will and Pleasure, before in these Presents ex- 
pressed. The Moyety or one halfe of all which Forfeitures Wee do hereby for Us, 
our Heires and Successors, give and grant, unto the said Couneill, and their Suc- 
cessors to their own proper Use without Accompt, and the other Moyety, or halfe 
Parte thereof. Wee will shall be and remaine to the Use of Us, our Heires and 
Successors. And we likewise have condiscended and granted, and bj- these Pres- 
ents, for Us, our Heires and Successors, do condiscend, and grant to and with the 
said Couneill and their Successors, that Wee, our Heires or Successors, shall not 
or will not give and grant any Lybertye, License, or Authority to any Person or 
Persons whatsoever, "to saile, trade, or trafficke unto the aforesaid parts of New- 
England, without the good Will and Likinge of the said Couneill, or the greater 
Part of them for the Time beinge, att any their Courts to be assembled. And 
Wee do for Us, our Heires and Successors, give and grant unto the said Couneill, 
and their Successors, that whensoever, or so often as any Custome or Subsidie 
shall growe due or payable unto Us, our Heires or Successors, according to the 



116 

Limitation and Appointment aforesaid, by Reason of any Gooils, Wares, Mer- 
chandizes, to be sJiipped out, or any Returne to be made of any Goods, Wares, 
or Mercliandizes, unto or from New-England, or any the Lands Territoryes 
aforesaid, that then so often, and in sucli Case tlie ffarmers, Customers, and 
Oflficers of our Customes of England and Ireland, and every of them, for the Time 
being, upon Request made unto them bj' the said Councill, tlieir Successors, 
ffactorSj or Assignees, and upon convenient Security to be given in that Behalfe, 
shall give and allowe unto the said Councill and their Successors, and to all 
Person and Persons free of the said Company as aforesaid, six Months Time for 
the Payment of the one halfe of all such Custome and Subsidie, as shall be due, 
and payable unto Us, our Heires and Successors for the same, for which these our 
Letters Patent, or the Duplicate, or the Enrolment thereof, shall be unto our 
said Officers a sufficient Warrant and Discliarge. Nevertheless, our Will and 
Pleasure is, that if an3' of the said Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes, which he, 
or shall be, att anj' Time heereafter, landed and exported out of any of our 
Realmes aforesaid, and shall be shipped with a Purpose not to be carried to New 
England aforesaid, that then such Payment, Duty, Custome, Imposition, or For- 
feiture, shall be paid, and belong to Us, our lieires, and Successors, lor the said 
Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes^ so fraudulently sought to he transported, as if 
this our Grant had not been made nor granted : And Wee do for Us, our Heires 
and Successors, give and grant unto the said Councill and theire Successors for 
ever, by these Presents, that the said President of the said Companj', or his 
Deputy for the Time being, or any two others of tlie said Councill, for the said 
C'ollony in New-England, for the Time beinge, shall and may, and att all Times 
heereafter, aud from time to time, have full Power and Authority, to minister 
and give the Oath and Oathes of Allegiance and Supremaej', or either of them, 
to all and every Person and Persons, which sliall at any Time and Times heere- 
after, goe or pass to the said Collony in New-England. And further, that it 
shall be likewise lawful for the said I'resident, or his Deputy for the Time being, 
or any two others of the said Councill for the said < 'ollony of New-England for 
the Time being, from time to time, and att all Times heerafter, to minister such 
a formal Oath, as by their Discretion shall be reasonably devised, as well unto 
any Person and Persons imployed or to be imployed in, for, or touching the said 
Plantation, for their honest faithfuU, and just Discharge of their Service, in all 
such Matters as shall be committed unto tliem for the Good and Benefit of the 
said Company, Collony, and Plantation, as also unto such other Person or Persons, 
as the said President or his Deputy, with two others of the said Councill, shall 
thinke meete for the Examination or clearing of the Truth in any Cause whatso- 
ever, concerning the said Plantation, or any Business from thence proceeding, 
or thereunto belonging. And to the End that no lewd or ill-disposed Persons, 
Saj'lors, Soldiers, Artificers, Laborours, Husbandmen, or others, which shall 
receive Wages, Apparel, or other Entertainment from the said Councill, or 
contract and agree with the said Councill to goe, and to serve, and to be employ- 
ed, in the said Plantation, in tlie Collony in New-England, to afterwards with- 
draw, hide, and conceale themselves, or refuse to go thither, after they have 
been so entertained and agreed withall ; and that no Persons which shall be sent 
and imployed in the said Plantation, of the said Collony in New-England, upon 
the Charge of the said Councill, doe misbehave themselves by mutinous Sedi- 
tions, or other notorious Misdemeanors, or which shall be employed, or sent 
abroad by the Governour of New-England or his Deputy, with any Shipp or 
Pinnace, for Provision for the said Colony, or for some Discovery, or other Busi- 
ness or Affaires concerninge the same, doe from thence either treacherously come 
back againe, or returne into the Realme of Engiande by Stealthe, or without 
Licence of the Governour of the said Collony in New-England for the Time being, 
or be sent hither as Misdoers or Offenders ; and that none of those Persons after 
theire Returne from thence, being questioned b.y the said Councill heere, for such 
their Misdemeanors and Offences, tdo, by insolent and contemptuous Carriage in 
the Presence of the said Councill shew little Respect and Reverence, eitlier to 
the Place or Authority in which we have placed and appointed them and others, 
for the clearing of their Lewdness and Misdemeanors committed in New-England, 
divulge vile and scandalous Reports of the Country of New-England, or of the 
Government or Estate of the said Plantation and Collonj-, to bring the said 
Voyages and Plantation into Disgrace and Contempt, by Meanes whereof, not 
only the Adventurers and Planters already engaged in the said Plantation may 
be exceedingly abused and hindered, and a great Number of our loveing and 
well-disposed Subjects, otherways well affected and inclined to joine and adven- 
ture in so noble a (^'hristian and worthy Action may be discouraged from the 
same, but also the Enterprize itself may be overthrowne, which cannot miscarry 
without some Dishonour to Us and our Kingdome : Wee, therefore, for prevent- 
ing so great and enormous Abuses and Misdemeanors, Do, by these Presents for 
Us, our Heires, and Successors, give and grant unto the said President or his 
Deputy, or such other Person or Persons, as by the Orders of the said Councill 
shall be appointed by Warrant under his or their Hand or Hands, to send for, 



117 

or cause to be apprehended, all and every such Person and Persons, who shall be 
noted, or accused, or found at any time or times heereafter to offend or misbe- 
have themselves in any the Affaires before mentioned and expressed ; and upon 
the Examination of any such Offender or Offenders, and just Proofe made by 
Oathe taken before said CounciU, of any such notorious Misdemeanours by them 
commitied as aforesaid, and also upon any insolent, contemptuous, or irrever- 
ent Carriage or Misbehaviour, to or against the said Council!, to be shewed or 
used by any such Person or Persons so called, convened, and appearing before 
them as aforesaid, that in all such Cases, our said Council!, or any two or more 
of them for the time being, shall and may have full Power and Authority, either 
heere to bind them over with good Sureties for their good Behaviour, and further 
therein to proceed, to all Intents and Purposes as it is used in other like Cases 
within our Realme of England, or else at their Discretions to remand and send 
back the said Offenders, or any of them, to the said Collony of New-England, 
there to be proceeded against and punished as the (iovernour's Deputy or Coun- 
cil! there for the Time being, shall think meete, or otherwise according to such 
Laws and Ordinances as are, and shall be, in Use there, for the well ordering and 

food Government of the said Collony. And our Will and Pleasure is, and Wee 
o hereby declare to all Christian Kings, Princes and States, that if any Person or 
Persons wliich shall hereatterbeof thesaid Collony or Plantation, or any other by 
Licence or Appointment of the said Councill, or their Successors, or otherwise, 
shall at any time or times heereafter, rob or spoil, by Sea or by Land, or do any 
Hurt, Violence, or unlawful! Hostility to any of the Subjects of Us, our Heires, 
or Successors, or any of the Subjects of the King, Prince, Ruler, or Governour. 
or State, being then in League or Amity with Us, our Heires and Successors, and 
that upon such Injury, or upon just Complaint of such Prince, Ruler, Governour, 
or State, or their Subjects, Wee, our Heires, or Successors shall make open I'roc- 
lamation witliin any of the Ports of our Realme of England commodious for that 
Purpose, that the Person or Persons having committed any such Robbery or 
Spoile, shall within the Term limited by such a Proclamation, make full Resti- 
tution or Satisfaction of all such Injuries done, so as the said Princes or other, so 
complaining, may hold themselves fully satisfied and contented. And if tliat 
the said Person or Persons, having committed such Robery or Spoile, shall not 
make or cause to be made Satisfaction accordingly within such Terme so to be 
limited, that then it shall be lawful for Us, our Ileires and Successors, to put 
the said Person or I'ersons out of our Allegiance and Protection ; and that it 
shall be lawful and free for all Princes to prosecute with Hostility the said Of- 
fenders and every of them, their, and every of their Procurers, Aidors, Abettors, 
and Comforters in that Behalfe. And also. Wee do for Us, our Heires, and Suc- 
cessors, declare by these Presents, that all and everj' the Persons beinge our 
Subjects, which shall goe and inhabitt within the said Collony and Plantation, 
and every of their Children and Posterity, which shall happen to be born within 
the Limitts thereof, shall have and enjoy all Liberties, and ffranchizes, and Im- 
munities of free Denizens and naturall Subjects within any of our other Domin- 
ions, to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had been abidiuge and born within 
this our Kingdome of England, or any other our Dominions. And lastly, be- 
cause the principal! Effect wliich we can desire or expect of this Action, is the 
Conversion and Reduction of the People in those Parts unto the true Worship of 
God and Christian Religion, in which Respect, Wee would be loath that any 
Person be permitted to pa«s that We suspected to affect the Superstition of the 
Chh of Rome, Wee do hereby declare that it is our Will and Pleasure that none 
be permitted to pass, in any Voyage from time to time to be made into the said 
Country, but such as shall first have taken the Oathe of Supremacj- ; for which 
I'urpose, Wee do by these Presents give full Power and Authority to the Presi- 
dent of the said Councill, to tender and exhibit the said Oath to all such Per- 
sons as shall at any time be sent and imploycd in the said Voyage. And Wee 
also for Us, our Heires and Successors, do covenant and grant to and with the 
Councill, and their Successors, by these Presents, that if the Councill for the time 
being, and their Successors, or any of them, shall at any time or times heereafter, 
upon any Doubt which they shall conceive concerning the Strength or Validity 
in Law of this our present Grant, or bo desirous to have the same renewed and 
confirmed bv Us, our Heires and Successors, with Amendment of such Imperfec- 
tions and Defects as shall appeare fitt and necessary to the said Councill, or their 
Successors, to be reformed and amended on the Bchalfc of Us, oiir Heires and 
Successors, and for the furthering of the Plantation and Government, or the 
Increase, continuing, and flourishing thereof, that then, upon the humble Pe- 
tition of the said Councill for the time being, and their Successors, to Us, our 
Heires and Successors, Wee, our Heires and Successors, shall and will forthwith 
make and pass under the Great Scale of England, to the said Councill and theire 
Successors, such further and better Assurance, of all and singular the Lands, 
Grounds, Royalties, Privileges, and Premises aforesaid granted, or intended to be 
granted, according to our true Intent and Meaning in these our Letters-patents. 
signified, declared, or mentioned, as by the learned Councill of Us, our Heires, 



118 

and Successors, and of the said Company and theirs Successors shall, in that Be- 
halfe, be reasonably devised or advised. And further our Will and Pleasure is, 
that in all Questions and Doubts, that shall arise upon any Difliculty of Instruc- 
tion or Interpretation of any Thinff contained in these our Letters-pattents, the 
same shall be taken and interpreted in most ample and beneficial Manner, for the 
said Council and their Successors, and every Member thereof. And Wee do fur- 
ther for Us, our Heires and Successors, charge and command all and singular Ad- 
mirals, Vice-Admirals, Generals, Commanders, Captains, Justices of I'eace, Ma- 
jors, Sheriffs, Bailiffs, Constables, Customers, Comptrollers, Waiters, Searchers, 
and all the Officers of Us, our Heires and Successors, whatsoever to be from time 
to time, and aft all times heereafter, in all Things aiding, helping, and assisting 
unto the said Councill, and their Successors, and unto every of them, upon Re- 
quest and Requests by them to be made, in all Matters and Things, for the Fur- 
therance and Accomplishment of all or any the Matters and Things by Us, in and 
these our Letters-pattents, given, granted, and provided, or by Us, meant or in- 
tended to be given, granted, and provided, as they our said Officers, and the 
Officers of Us, our Heires and Successors, do tender our Pleasure, and will avoid 
the contrary att their Perills. And Wee also do by these Presents, ratif'ye and 
confirm unto the said Councill and their Successors, all Privileges, ffranchises. 
Liberties, Immunities granted in our said former Letters-patents, and not in these 
our Letters-patents revoaked, altered, changed or abridged, altho' express Men- 
tion, &c. 

In Witnes ^c. 

Witnes our selfe at Westminister, the Third Day of November, in the Eigh- 
teenth Yeare of our Reign over England, &c. 

Par Breve de Prlvato SigilUo, ^c. 

This is a true Copy from the Original Record remaining in the Chapel of the 
Rolls having been examined. 

HEN. ROOKE, Cleric of the Rolls. 



THE FIRST PLYMOUTH PATENT. 

THIS INDENTURE MADE THE FIRST DAY OF JUNE 1621 AND IN THE 
yeeres of the raigne of our Sovraigne Lord JAMES by the grace of god 
King of England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland deliendor of the faith &c That 
is to say of England Fraunce and Ireland the Nynetenth and of Scotland the 
fowre and fiftith, Betwene the President and Counsell of New England of the one 
ptie And John Peirce Citizen and Clothworker of London and his Associate of 
the other ptie WITNESSETH that whereas the said John Peirce and his Associates 
haue already transported and vndertaken to transporte at their coste and ciiardges 
themselves and dyvers psons into New England and there to erect and build a 
Towne and settle dyvers Inhabitants tor the advancem' of the geuall plantacon of 
that Country of New England NOW THE SAYDE President and Counsell in 
consideracon thereof and for the furtherance of the said plantacon and incoragem' 
of the said Vndertakers haue agreed to graunt assigne allott and appoynt to the 
said John I'eirce and his associates and euy of them Ins and their heires and assignes 
one Imndred acres of grownd for euy pson so to be transported besides dyverse 
other pryvileges Liberties and comodyties hereafter menconed. And to that in- 
tent they haue graunted allotted assigned and confirmed. And by theis puts do 
graunt allott assigne and confirme vnto the said John Peirce and his Associates his 
and their heires & Assignes and the heires & assignes of euy of them seually & 
respectyvelie one hundred seuall acres of grownd in New England for euy pson 
so transported or to be transported (Yf the said John Peirce or his Associate con- 
tynue there three whole yeeres either at one orseuall tymes or dye in the meane sea- 
son after he or they are shipped with intent there to inhabit The same Land to be 
taken and chosen by them their deputies or assignes in any place or places where- 
soeu not already inhabited by any E^nglish and where no English pson or psons 
are already placed or settled or haue by order of the said President and Councell 
made choyce of, nor within Tenne myles of the same (vnles it be on the opposite 
S3'de of some great or Navigable Kyver to the former pficuler plantacon, together 
with the one half of the Kyver orRyvers, that is to say to the niiddest thereof as 
shall adioyne to such lands as they shall make choyce of together with all sucli 
Liberties pryvilcdges pffits & comodyties as the said Laud and Kyvcrs which they 
shall make choyce of shall yield together with free libtie to fishe in and vpon the 
Coast of New England and in all havens ports and creekes Therevnto belonging 
and that no pson or psons whatsoeu shall take any benefitt or libtie of or to any of 
the grownds or the one half of the Ryvers aforesaid (excepting the free vse of 
highways by land and Navigable Ryvers, but that the said vndertakers & planters 



119 

their heires & assigncs shall haue the sole right ami vse of the said grownds aud 
theoue half of the said Kyvers with all their pffitts & appiteniices. AND forasmuch 
as the said John Peirce aud his associates intend and haue vndertakeu to build 
Churches, Schooles, Hospitalls, Towne houses. Bridges aud such like workes of 
Charytie As also for the maynteyuing of Majestrates and other iuferiof Officers. In 
regard whereof and to the end tliat the said John Peirce and his Associates his and 
their heires and assi^ues may haue wherewithall to heare & support such like 
charge. THEKEFOKE the said President & Councell aforesaid do graunt vnto 
the said Vndcrtakers their heires & assignes Fitteeue hundred acres of Land more- 
over aud aboue the aforesaid proporcon of one hundred the pson for euy vnder- 
taker & Planter to be ymployed vpon such publiq vses as the said Vndertakers & 
Planters shall think litt. AND they do further grauut vuto the said John Peirce 
and his Associates their heires and assignes, that lor euy pson tliat they or any of 
them shall transport at their owne prop coste & charge into JJew England either 
vnto the Lands hereby graunted or adioyr.iui^e to them within Seven Yeeres after 
the feast of S' John Baptist next comiug Yl the said psou tr;iusported contynue 
there three whole yeeres either at one or seuall tyuies or dye in the meane season 
after he is shipped with intent there to inhabit that the said" pson orpsous tliat shall 
so at his or their owne charge transport any otlier shall haue grauuied aud allowed 
to him & them and his & their heires respectyvelie lor eny psou so transported or 
dyeing after he is shipped one hundred acres of Land, and also that euy pson or 
psons who by contract & agreem' to be had & made with the said Vndertakes shall 
at his & their owne charge transport him & themselves or any other and setle and 
plant themselves in New England within the said Seaven Yeeres ibr three yeeres 
space as aforesaid or dye in the mean e tynie shall haue graunted & allowed vuto 
euy pson so transporting or transported aud their heires & assignes respectyvely 
the like nomber of one hundred acres of Laud as aforesaid the same to be by him 
& them or their lieires & assignes chosen in any entyre place together aud adioyn- 
ing to the aforesaid Lands a\d not straglingly not before the tyme of such choyce 
made possessed or inhabited by any English Company or within tenue myles of 
the same (except it be on the opposite side of some great Navigable Kyver as afore- 
said YIELDING and paying vnto the said President and Counsell for euy hun- 
dred acres so obteyned and possessed by the said John Peirce and his said Asso- 
ciates and by those said other psons and their heires & assignes who by Contract 
as aforesaid shall at their owne charge transport themselves or others the Yerely 
rent of Two shillings at the feast of St. Michaell Tharchaungell to the hand of the 
Eentgatherer of the said President & Counsell and their successors foreu, the first 
paym' to begyn after the'xpiracon of the first seven Yeeres next after the date hereof 
AND further it shalbe lawful! to and lor the said John Peiice aud his Associates 
and such as contract with them as af'ore.«aid their Tennts & srvants vpon dislike of 
or in the Country to returne for England or elsewhere with all their goods and 
chattells at their will and pleasure ^^thout lett or disturbance of any paying all 
debts that iustly shalbe demaunded AND likewise it shalbe lawfull aud is graunt- 
ed to and for the said John Peirce and his Associates & Planters their heires & 
assignes their Tennts & srvauts and such as they or any of them shall contract 
with as aforesaid and send and ymploy for the said plautacon to goe & returne trade 
trafliq in port or transport their Mods & mcliaundize at their will & pleasure into 
England or elsewhere paying onely such duties to the Kings ma''" his heires & suc- 
cessors as the President aud Counsell of New England doe pay without any other 
taxes Imposicons burthens or restraints whatsoeu vpon them to be ymposed (the 
rent hereby resved being onely excepted) AND it shalbe lawfull ibr the said Vnder- 
takes & Planters, their heires & successoi^s freely to truck trade & traffiq with the 
Salvages in New England or neighboring thereabouts at their wills aud pleasures 
without lett or disturbance. As also to haue libtie to hunt hauke lish or f'owle in 
any place or places not now or hereafter by the English inhabited. AND THE 
SAID President & Counsell do covenut & promyse'to aud with the said John 
Peirce aud his Associates and others contracted w"" as aforesaid liis and their 
heires & assignes, That vpon lawfull srvey to be had & made at the charge of 
the said Vnciertakers & Planters and lawful informacon geveu of the bowndes, 
metes, and quantitie of Lands so as aforesaid to be by them chosen & posse.ssed 
they the said President & Counsell vpon srrender of this pnte graunt & Inden- 
ture and vpon reasonable request to be made by the said Vndertakers & Planters 
their heires & assignes within seaven Yeeres now next coming, shall and will by 
their Deede Indented and vnder their Comon seale graunt infeofle & confirme all 
and euy the said lauds so sett out and bownded as aforesaid to the said John 
Peirce and his Associates and such as contract with them their heires and assignes 
in as large aud beneficiall manner as the same are in theis ptnts graunted or in- 
tended to be graunted to all intents and purposes with all and euy pticuler pryvi- 
ledge & freedome resvacon aud condicon with all dependences herein specyfied & 
graunted ; And shall also at any tvme within the said terme of Seaven 1 eeres 
vpon request vnto the said President & Counsell made, graunt vnto them the said 
John Peirce and his Associates Vndertakers & I'lanters their heires & assignes. Let- 
ters & graunts of Incorporacon by some vsuall & litt name & tytle with Liberty 



120 

to them and their successors from tyme to tyme to make orders Lawes Ordy- 
iiauuces & Constitucons for the rule government ordering and directing of all 
psons to be transported & settled vpon the lands hereby graunted, iutended to be 
graunted or hereafter to be graunted and of the said Lands & proffitts thereby 
arrysing ; And in the meane tyme vntill such graunt made, Yt shalbe lawfuU for 
the said John I'eirce his Associate Vndertakcs & Planters their heires & assignes 
by consent of the greater pt of them, To establish such Lawes & ordy nances as 
are for their better governem', and the same by such Officer or Officers as they shall 
by most voyces elect & choose to put in execution. AND lastly the said President 
and Counsell do graunt and agree to and with the said John Peirce and his Asso- 
ciates and others contracted with and ymployed as aforesaid their heires & assignes. 
That when they haue planted the Lands hereby to them assigned & appo.juted, 
That then it shalbe lawfull for them with the pryvitie & allowaunce of the Presi- 
dent & Counsell as aforesaid to make choyce of to enter into and to haue an addi- 
tion of fiftie acres more for euy pson transported into New England with like res- 
vacous coudicons & priviledges as arc aboue graunted to be had and chosen in such 
place or places where no Hlnglish shalbe then settled or inhabiting or haue made 
choyce of and the same entered ii*to a booke of Acts at the tyme of such choyce so 
to be made or within tenne Myles of the same (excepting on the opposite side of 
some great Navigable Ryver as aforesaid ; And that it shall and may be lawfull 
lor the said John Peirce and his Associates their heires and assignes from tyme to 
tyme and at all times hereafter for their seuall defence & savetie to encounter ex- 
pulse repell & resist by force of Armes aswell by Sea as by Land and by all wayes 
and meanes whatsoeu all such pson & psons as without theespcciall lycenseof the 
said President or Counsell and their successo" or the greater pt of them shall at- 
tempt to inhabit within the seuall psincts & lymytts of theirsaid Plantacon, Or shall 
enterpryse or attempt at any tyme hereafter distrucon, Invation, detryment or 
annoyaunce to the said Plantacon. AND THE SAID John Peirce and his associates 
and their heires & assignes do covennt & promyse to & with the said President 
& Counsell and their successors, That they the said John Peirce and his Associates 
from tyme to tyme during the said Seaven Yeeres shall make a true Certiticat to 
the said President & Counsell & their successors from the chief Officers of the 
places respectyvely of euy pson transported & landed in New England or shipped 
as aforesaid to be entered by the Secretary of the said President & Counsell into a 
Register book for that purpose to be kept AND the said John Peirce and his As- 
sociates Jointly and seually for them their heirs & assignes do covennt promyse & 
graunt to and with the said President & Counsell and their successors That the 
psons transported to this their pticuler Plantacon shall apply themselves & their 
Labors in a large and competent mann to the planting setting making and pro- 
curing of good & staple comodyties in & vpon the said Land hereby graunted vnto 
them as Corne & silk grasse hemp flaxe pitch and tarre sopoashes and potashes 
Yron Clapboard and other the like materialls. IN WITNESS whereof the said 
President & Counsell haue to the one pt of this pnte Indenture sett their scales 
And to th'other pt hereof the said John Peirce in the name of himself and his said 
Associates haue sett to his scale geven the day and yeeres first aboue written. 

LENOX (Scale.) 
BK. (Seaie.) 
HAMILTON (Scale.) 
WARWICK (Scale.) 
SHEFFIELD (Scale.) 
FERD. GORGES (Seale.) 

On the Verso of the instrument is the following indorsment: — 
Sealed and Delivered by my Lord Duke in the Psence of 

EDWARD COLLINGWOOD, Clerk. 



Note. The signatures, are those of the Duke of Lenox, the Marquis of Buck- 
ingham, the Marquis of Hamilton, the Earl of Warwick, Lord Sheffield, and Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges, 



llil 



PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON. 

Colonial, Entby Book, No. 59. pp. 101 — 108. 

A Grant of the Province of Maine to S"" Ferdiuando Gorges, and John 
Mason, Estf . 10* of August, 1622. 

This Indenture made the 10"' day of August Anno Dom : 1622, & in the 20th yearo 
of the Reigne of our Sovereisrne Lord James by the grace of God King of Eng- 
land, Scotland, France and Irohind, Defender of the Faith, fee. Betweene the 
President & Councell of New England on y« one part, and S' Ferdinando Gorges 
of Londoi}, Knight and Captaine John Mason of London Esquire on y other part 
Wittuessetli that wlieruas our said Sovereignc Lord King. James for the makeing a 
Plantacon & establishing a Colony or C'olonyes in y'' country called or knowne oy 
ye name of New England in America liath by his Highness Letters I'atents under 
the Great Seale of England bearing date at Westni' : the 3' day of Novembe'. in the 
18di yeare of his Reigne given granted and confirmed vnto tlie Riglit Honorable Lo- 
dowick Duke of Lenox George Marquiss of Buckingliam, James Manjuiss Hamilton, 
Thomas Earle of Arundell, Robert Earle of Warwick, S' Fertlinaiuli) (iorgrs Kn'. 
and diverse others wliose names are expressed in y said JA^tters I'atents, their 
successors and assignes that tliey shalbo one Body Politique and Corporate per- 
petual! and tliat they should have perpefuall Succession & one Comon Seale or 
Scales to serve for the said Body and tliat they and tlieir Successors shalbe knowne 
called and incorporated by tlieiiame of the President & Gouucill established at 
Plymouth iu the County of Devon for the jilanting ruling and governing of New 
England in America. And also hath of his esjjeciall grace certaine knowledge and 
meer motion for him his heyrcs and successo''^ : & given granted and conttrmed 
vnto the said I'resident and Councill and their successor'- under the rcservacons, 
limitacons and dcclaracons in the said Letters Fatents expressed. All that part or 

Eorcon of that country now comonly called New England w^^ is situate lying and 
eing between the Latitude of 40 and 48 Degrees nortlierly Latitude together w'"" 
the Seas and Islands lying w"'in one hundred miles of anv part of the said Coasts 
of the Country aforesaid and also all y« Lands, SoyU', grounds, havens, ports, rivers, 
mines as well Royal mines of Gold and Silver as otlieiniines minerals pearlsand pre- 
tious stones woods, quaryes, marshes, waters tisliings hunting, hawking fowling 
comodities and hereditaments whatsoever together w"' all prerogatives jurisdictions 
royaJtys privileges franchises aud preheminences within any of the saidTerritoryes 
and precincts thereof whatsover. To have hold possess and enjoy all and singular the 
said lands and premises in the said Letters Patent granted or menconed to bee grant- 
ed unto ye said President and Councill their Successo™ aud assignes for ever to be 
holden of hisMa>y his heyeresaud suceesso's as of his highness 31ano"' of East Green- 
wich in the County of Kent in free and common Soccago and not in capite or by 
Kn's service — Yeelding & paying to the King's Ma''= his heyers and successo" the 
one lifth part of all Gold and Silver oare that from time to time and att all times 
from the date of the said Letters Patents shall be there gotten had or obtayned for 
all services dutyes or demands as in & by his highnes said Letters Patients amongst 
other divers things therein contayned more fully and at large it doth appeare, And 
whereas the said President & Councill have upon mature deliberacon thought titt 
for the better furnishing and furtherance of the Plantacon in those parts to ap- 
propriate and allott to several! and particuler persons diverse parcells of Lands 
within the precincts of the aforesaid granted p'misses by his Ma*» said Letters Pa- 
tents. Now this Indenture witnes.seth that ye si President and Council! of their 
full free and mutual! consent as well to the end that all the Lands, woods, lakes, 
rivers, waters, Islands and tisliings w"" all otlier the Traftiques proffits & comodi- 
tyes whatsover to tliem or any of them belonging and hereafter in these presents 
menconed may be wholly and intirelv invested appropriated severed and settled 
in and upon ye said S"^ Ferdinando Gorges & Cap' John Mason their hoyres and 
assignes for ever as for diverse special! services for the advancem' of the sd Planta- 
cons and other good and sufficient causes and consideracons them especially there- 
unto moveing have given granted bargained sould assigned aliened sett over en- 
feoffed & confirmed — And by these presents doe give grant bargaine sell assigne 
alien sett over and contirme imto ye sJ S" Ferdinando Gorges & Cap' John Mason 
their heirs and assignes all that part of v' maine land in New England lying vpon 
ye Sea Coast betwixt ve rivers of Merimack & Sagadahock and to ye furthest lieads 
of ye said Rivers and soe forwards up into the land westward until! threescore 
miles be finished from ye first entrance of tlie aforesaid rivers and half way over 
that is to say to the midst of the said two rivers weh bounds and limitts the lands 
aforesaid togeather w* all Islands & Isletts w"" in five leagues distance of yr pre- 
misses and abutting vpon ye same or any part or parcel! tliereoff. As also all the 
lands, soyle, grounds, havens, ports, rivers, mines, mineralls, pearls, pretious 
stones woods quarryes marshes waters fishings hunting hawking fowling and other 

16 



122 

comodityes and hereditam'* whatsoever w"' all and singular their apurtenances 
together w"" all prerogatives rights royaltyes jurisdictions privileges franchises 
libertyes preheminences marine power in and vpon y said seas and rivers as alsoe 
all escheats and casualtyes thereof as flotson petson lagon w"" anchorage and other 
such dutyes immunityes sects isletts and apurtenances whatsover w"" all ye estate 
right title interest claime and demands Avhatsoever w^^ y said President and Coun- 
cell and their successo" of right ought to have or claime in or to y« said porcons 
of lands rivers and other y premisses as is aforesaid by reason or force of his liigh- 
nes said Letters Patents in as free large ample and beneticiall maner to all intents 
constructions and purposes whatsoever as in and by the said Letters Patents y" 
same are among other things granted to ye said President and Councell afores<i Ex- 
cept two tifths of y Oare of Gold and Silver in these puts hereafter expressed w"^ 
said porcons of lands w'li y"-' appurtenances the said Sr Ferdinaudo Gorges and 
Capt. John Mason w"" the consent of y President & Councell intend to name y 
Province of Maine To haveand to hould all the said porcons of land, Islands riv- 
ers and premises as aforesaid and all and singler other y<- comodytyes and heredit- 
am" hereby given granted aliened enfeoffed and confirmed or mencoued or in- 
tended by these presents to be given granted aliened enfeoffed and confirmed w* 
all and singuler y appurtences and every part and parcel! thereof unto y said 
S' Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason their heyres and assignes for ever, 
To be holden of his said Ma''« his heyres and successo"^^ as of his Highnes Manor of 
East Greenwich in y^ County of Kent in free and common Soccage and not in 
capite or by Kn'^ service. Keverthelesse w"" such exceptions reservacous limifa- 
consand declaraconsas in yc said Letters Patents are at large expressed yeelding & 
paying unto our Soveraigne Lord the King his heyres & successors the fifth part 
of all y« oare of gold and silver that from time to time and att all times hereafter 
shall be there gotten had and obtayned for all services dutyes and demands. And 
alsoe yeelding and paying unto the said President and Councell and their Successors 
yerely the sum of Teiin shillings English money if it be demanded. And the said 
President and Councill for them and their Successo" doe covenant and grant to 
and w'h the said S' Ferdinaudo Gorges and Capt. John Mason ther heires and 
assignes from and after the ensealing and delivery of these presents according 
to y purport true intent and meaning of these presents that they shall from hence- 
forth from time to time for ever peaceably and quietly have hold possess and en- 
joye all y« aforesaid Lands Islands rivers and premises w* yp appurtenences here- 
by before given and granted or mcnconed or inteadod to be licreby given and 
granted and every part & parcell thereof w"" out any lett disturbance denyall 
trouble interrupcon or ovicon of or by y" said President and Councill or any per- 
son or persons whatsoever claiming by from or under them or their successor or 
by or under their estate right title or Interest, And y^ said President and Councill 
for them and their Succcsso™ doe further Covenant and grant to & w'*" y said S' 
Ferdinaudo Gorges& Capt. JohnSIason their heyres and assignes by these presents 
that they y« said I'resident and Councill shall at all times hereafter vpon reasonable 
request at ye only proper cost and charges in the Law of y said S' Ferdinando Gor- 
ges & Capt. John Mason their heyres and assignes doe make performe suffer execute 
and willingly consent unto any further act or acts conveyance or conveyances as- 
surance or assurances whatsoever for ye good and perfect investing assuring and 
conveying and sure making of all the aforesaid porcons of Lands Islands rivers 
and all and singuler their appurtences to y' said S' Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. 
John Mason their heyres and assignes as by them their heyres and assignes or by 
his their or any of their Councill learned in ye Law shall bee devised advised or 
required. And further it is agreed by and between the said partyes to these pres- 
ents and ye said S' Ferdinando Gorges and Captaine John Mason for them their 
heyres executoi s administrators and assignes doe covenant to and w"i ye said Pres- 
sidentand Councill and tlieir successor by these presents that if at any time hereaf- 
ter there shall be found any oare of gold and silver within ye ground in any part 
of ye said premises that then they ye said S'' Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John 
Mason their heyres and assignes shall yield & pay vnto ye said President and 
Councill their successor and assignes one fifth part of all such gold and silver oare as 
shall be found within and vpon ye premises and digged and brought above ground 
to bo delivered above ground & that always within leasonable and convenient time 
if it be demanded after ye finding getting "and digging vp of such oare as aforesaid 
w"" out fraud or covin and according to ye true intent and meaning of these Pres- 
ents. And ye s'l S' Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason doe further cove- 
nant for them their heyres and assignes that they will establish such governnient 
in ye s* porcons of lands and Islands granted unto them and ye same will from 
time to time continue as shall be agreeable as nere as may be to >•* Laws and Cus- 
toms of ye realmo of England, and if they shall be charged at any time to have 
neglected their duty therein that then they will reforme the same according to y= 
directions of the President and Councill or in defaulte thereof it shall be lawfull 
for any of ye agrievcd inhabitants or planters being tenn'" vpon ye said Lands to 
appeale to y" Chief Courts of Justices of ye President and Councill. And ye s* S' 
Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason doc covenant and grant to and w"" y« 



123 

said President and Councill their successo" & assignes by these presents, that they 
y8 said S'' Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. Joliu Mason shall and will before >•« ex- 
piracon of three years to be accompted from y day of y date hereof have in or 
vpou the said porcons of lands or some pt thereof one parte w"' a competent 
guard and ten Ijunillyes at y^ least of his Ma'^ subjects resident and being in and 
vpon y same premises or in default thereof shall and will forfeite and loose to the 
said President & Councill the sum of one hundred pounds sterling money and 
further that if y« said S' Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason their heires 
and assignes shall at any time hereafter alien these premises or any part thereof to 
any forraigne nations or to any person or persons of any forraigno nation without 
y« speciail licence consent and agreement of y« said President and Councill their 
successo" and assignes that then y" part or parts of the said lands so alienated shall 
immediately returne back againe to y« use of y= said President and Councill. And 
further know yee that y said President and Councill have made constituted dep- 
uted authorized and appointed and in their place & stead doe put Capt. Kob' Gor- 
ges or in his absence to any other person that shall be their Goveruo' or other 
officer to be their true and lawfull attorney and in their name and stead to enter 
the said porcons of Lauds and other the premises w"" their appurtences or into 
some part thereof in y^ name of y^ whole, ibr them and in their name to have and 
take possession and seizin thereof, or some part thereof in y name of ye whole soe 
had and taken there for them and in their names to deliver the full and peaceable 
possession and seizin of all and singuler the said granted premises unto y said S"' 
Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason or to their certaine attorney or attor- 
neys in that behalf according to y^ true intent and meaning of these presents, rat- 
ifying confirming all and allowing and whatsoever their said attorney shall doe in 
or about ye prenuses by these presents. In \Vitnesse whereof to one parte of these 
present Indentures remaining in the hands of S^ Ferdinando Gorges and Captaine 
John Mason the said President and Councill have caused their comon scale to bo 
affixed and to the other of these present Indentures remaining in the custody of 
the said President and Councill the said S' Ferdinando Gorges & Capt. John Ma- 
son have put to their hands and seales. Given ye day and yeare first above written. 



PUBLIC KECORD OFFICE, LONDON. 

Colonial Vol. II. No. 6. pp. 5 — 7. 

MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL OF NEW ENGLAND. 

Wednesday ye 24th of July 1622. 

The Earle of Arundell. Sr. Ferd : Gorges. 
Mr. Secretary Calvert. Sr. SamK Argall. 

Lord Dukes It is ordered and agreed that the Lord Duke of Lenox have for his 
devition. devident and part of the mayne Land of New England in America, 
from ye middle of Sawahquatock towards Sagadahoc, and his bounds that way 
to reach mid waj' betweene Sawahquatock and Sagadahoc upon ye Coast. And 
to reach 30 miles backward into ye Mayne. And 3 Leagues into ye sea. 

Mr. Secretary Mr. Secretary Calvert to begin his devident ye middle of Sagada- 
Calverts hoc and to goe close to yc Lord Duke his bounds. And to have fur- 
devident. tlier into his devident the Island called by ye name of Setquin. 

The Earle of The Earle of Arundele to have for his devident from ye middle of 

Arundles Sagadahoc, and to goe Northeast soe much on his side, as Mr. Sec- 

devidt- retarj' goes on je other side upon ye Coast. And to reach miles 

backward into ye ]Mayne, and 3 leagues into ye Sea. And to have further into his 

Devident j'e Hand called Menehigan. 

Tenure of the It is propounded that ye Tenure in ye grand pattent is thought 
grand pattent. meet to bee held of ye' Crowne of England bj' ye sword. 

Tenure of pri- And that private Planters shall hold of the Chamber of State 
vate planters, to bee established there, and shall have power to create their 
owner Tenures to such as shall hold under them. 

Nova Albion. The Countrj' to bee called Nova Albion. That there may bee 
power given in the grand pattent to create Titles of Honour and precedency, soe 
as ye differ in nominacon from the titles used heere in England. 

Touching the Mr. Ratcliffe is sent for by a Messinger of the Chamber to attend 
staying of the Earle of Arundell, to morrow by two of ye clock, touching Timber 
Timber. stayd by his appointment in ye woods at Whiteby. 



124 

Two Islands reserved for It is thought meet that the two great Islands lying in 
publike i^lantacon. ye river of Sagadahoc bee reserved for the pubiike 
plantacon. 

A place for the publike Further that a place bee reserved betw^ene the branch- 
Citty. es of the two rivers for a publike Citty. 

Touching ye renewing of M""- Thompson is appointed to attend the Lords for a 
the pattent. Warrant to Mr. Attorney generall for drawing ye new 

Pattents, and Sr. Henry Spilman is desired to attend Mr Attorney thereabouts. 

The Lord Dukes and j'e Earle of Arundells devidents, sett downe by Sr. Ferd : 
Gorges upon view of ye mapps. 

The Lord Dukes The Lord Duke of Lenox is to have for a part of his Devident 
Devident. of ye lands in New England, from the midst of the river called 

Sawahquatock 15 Engli.sh Miles in a straTght line upon the 6ea coast, to y* East- 
ward of ye River. And 30 English mile.s backward of all the breadth afore-sd 
upp into the Mayne Land, North or North and by west, as ye Coast and River of 
Sawahquatock lyeth, accounting 1760 yards to every mile, with all ye fishings, 
Bayes, Havens, Harbours and Islands lyeing or being within 9 miles directly in- 
to ye sea (Bxcejiting such Island, as are allready granted etc. All lyeing be- 
tweene the degrees of 43 and 44 etc.) 

The Earle of Arun- The Earle of Arundell to have for a part of his divident 
dies Devidt. from ye Southermost poynt of Pethippscott East 12 Miles 

in a straight lyne as the coast lyeth on ye sea shoare. And 30 miles by all that 
breadth upp into the Mane Land due North, accounting 1700 yards to every mile, 
with all ye Fishings, Havens, Islands, etc. Lying and being within 9 miles direct- 
ly into the sea, etc. Together with ye Islands of Menehiggan etc. All lyeing be- 
tweene the Degrees of 43 & 44. 



PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON. 

Colonial, Vol. II. No. 16. 

A Cattalogue of such Pattentes as I know granted for making Planta- 
cons In New England. 

The Councell of Imps the Originall Patent granted to divers Lords some 
New England. times in the Custody of Tho. Eyres, The Lords granted others. 
162-2. 1. A Pattent to David Thompson M Jobe, M Sherwood of Plimouth 
for a pt of Piscattowa Riuer in New England 

2. A Pattent for a Plantation att New Plimouth to make a Corporation wch is 
pformed (See ante p US) 

1628. 3. A Pattent of the bay of the Massechusets Bay 3 my. South of 
Charles Riuer and 3 myles North of Merrimake 50 myles by sea shore but now 
haue subiugated most of the Cuntery wthin tlies 10 yeares 

4. A Pattent granted to Capt- Jo. Mason of Agawam now pos'sed by the peple 
of the Massechusets. 

5. A Pattent granted to Capt. Jo. Mason and Sir Fir : Gorges for discouery of 
the Great Lakes, nothing ther in done 

6. A Pattent to Sir Fir : Gorges Capt Norton and others for the Riuer of Acca- 
menties well was renewed by Edward Godfrey 1638: & p'palated wtt inhabi- 
tance most att his charge and regulated 25 years, but now ould by the vnlimated 
power of the Mathesusets and by them caled Yorke as bypet'os may appeer. 

7. A Pattent to Sir Fir: Gorges and divers others of a plantation and the sea 

coast of Pascatowae now it and sundery others, vnder 

the Massechusets. 

8. A Pattent granted to Ed. Hilton, by him sould to mchants of Bristoll they 
sould it to my Lo. Say and Brokes, they to sume of Shrusbery : in Passatowa 
many towns now gouerned by ye Mathesusets 

9. A Pattent granted to Jo. Stratton for Cape Porpase. 

11, 12. Two Pattents to Ric. Vines & Tho : Lias for pt of Saco Riuer. 

13. A Pattent to Capt. Tho : Camoke (Cammock) for Biake (Black) poynt. 

14. A Pattent to Mr. Trelany of Plimouth for Cape Elizabeth. 

15. A Pattent to Capt Leint for a Plantation att Casco. 

16. A Pattent for a plantation att Pechipscot. 



125 

17. A Pattent for the Corporation of New Plimouth for Kenebecke (Jan. 13, 
1629.) 

21. A Pattent to Oliuer Godf . . . & others for Cap. Nosick, (Neddick.) 

18. A Pattent for Mr Crispe and others for hagadahock. 

19. A Pattent for Mr Aldsvvorth and other of Bristol] for a plantation att Pem- 
aquard 

20. A Pattent of Richmonds Hand and 1500 ackers one the Mayne. 

Quere what other Patients haue binne granted by the Earle of Warwick, Lord 
Gorges, Sir: Gorges and others presidents of New England Company. 
Noat in all thes t'attents ther is conditions to bee pformed and bounded wth re- 
servations of Rentes 

And sundery places yet to grant, as I humbly conceue by this Ho. Stat and not 
by the State of the Mathesusets wch yf not louked into may bee the inuinsible 
State of Amerrica 

The Patients aboue out of the bounds of The Mathesusets or the vnited Collones 
and of whome the sd vnited CoUones as Conecticut, Hands, of Erras Newhaven 
and The rest had ther I'ai tents noe appeales suffered from the Mathesusets in 
New England to ould England. 

neather tlie Patients to the Estwards euer had Id. of their vast beneualence they 
haue had out of England and yearly haue what hath binne collected and heere 
disposed of is knowne to tliem and ther Agents heere, wlieather Godfreys letter 
to the llo. State heere ware soe Capitall a crime as to lose his Estate 
yf the Mathesusets bee suffered to bee a free State the danger great 
may as yet onely by letter bee pruented yf by Comittion or a generall Gouernor 
at prsent the consequence I leave. 
indorsed. A List of sundery Pattents that haue binne granted for New England. 



APPENDIX E 



[The popular belief has been that the Plymouth Colony designed to settle 
within the limits of the Dutch territory in the neighborhood of Manhattan, and 
such is the statement of Bradford. They negotiated with the Dutch for this pur- 
pose prior to their departure from Holland, and the application in their behalf 
was rejected. This is shown by the following papers, copied from the Holland 
Documents, published by the State of New York. Doc. Hist. Vol. 1.] 

PETITION OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE NETHERLAND COMPANY. 

To THE Prince of Orange, &c. 

Referred to the Deputies The Directors of the Company trading to New 
of the Board of Admiralty Netherlands, situate in latitude from 40 to 45 de- 
who are invited here for the grees, between New France and Virginia, rever- 
15th instant. Done 12th Feb. ently represent that they, the petitioners, have, 
1620. (signed) C. Aerssens as discoverers and first finders of said countries, 
1620. traded hither now several years, in virtue of a cer- 

tain general Charter from the High and Mighty Lords States General, dated the 
10th March 1614 -, that they, also, have delivered to their High Mightinesses their 
written report, with a map of the situation and usefulness of said countries. 

And whereas the petitioners' Charter has expired so that every one is now at 
liberty to trade there, they have again sent thither two ships, in order to pre- 



126 

servo the reputation of said trade ; some vessels have been likewise sent by oth- 
ers traders, exclusive of the Company. 

Now it happens, that there is residing at Leyden a certain English Preacher, 
versed m Dutch language who is well inclined to proceed thither to live, assur- 
ing the petitioners thathe has the means of inducing over four hundred families 
to accompany him thither, both out of the country and England, provided they 
would be guarded and preserved from all violence on the part of other potentates, 
by the authority and under the protection of jour Princely Excellency and the 
High and Migli'ty Lords States General, in the propagation of the true, pure 
Christian religion, in the instruction of the Indians in that country m true learn- 
ing, and in converting them to the Christian Faith, and thus througli the mercy 
of "the Lord, to the greater glory of this country's government, to plant there 
a new Commonwealth, all under and command of your Princely Excellency and 
the High and Miglity Lords States General. . And whereas tliey, tlie Petitioners, 
have experienced that his Majestj' of Great Britain would be disposed to people 
the aforesaid with the English nation, and by force to render fruitless their pos- 
session and discovery, and thus deprive this State of its right and apparently 
with ease surprise tlie ships of tliis country which are there, and are ordered to 
remain there the whole year ; wherefore they, the petitioners, pray and request 
that your Princely Excellency may beningly please to take all the aforesaid into 
favorable consideration, so that, for the "preservation of this country's rights, 
the afores.aid Minister and the four hundred families may be taken under the pro- 
tection of tliis country, and that two ships of war may be provisional!}' despatch- 
ed to secure to the State the aforesaid Countries, inasmuch as they would be of 
much imjiortance, whenever the West India Company is established, in respect 
to the large abundance of timber fit for ship building &c., as may be seen by the 
accompanying report. On all which 

(Endorsed) Petition of the Directors of the Company trading to New Netherlands. 

"12 February, 1620. 



Further Resolution of the States General on the preceding Petition. 

Tuesday, the 10th March 1620. 

Folio 75. Resolved that the opinion of his Excellency shall be first ob- 

New Netherland tained on the Petition presented by the Directors of the Com- 

Company. pany trading to New Netherland, before acting on it and on 

the advice of the Deputies from" the Board of Admiralty. 

Further Resolutions of the States General. 

Friday the 10th of April, 1620. 
Folio 113. Read the Petition of the Directors of the New Netherland 

New Netherland Company, that their request should be favorably disposed, and 
Company. resolved to obtain his Excellency's opinion thereon. 

Resolution of the States General on the Petition of the New Nether- 
land Company. 

Saturday, the Uth April, 1620. 

Folio 115. The petition of the Directors of the New Netherland Com- 

New Netherland pany, that they, for the people of said Island, maj' be assisted 
Company. with two ships of war, is again rejected. 



1-2- 



APPENDIX F 



COMMISSION TO SIR FERDINANDO GORGES AS GOVERNOR OF NEW 
ENGLAND. BY THE KING. 

Many Testing Our Royall pleasure for the establishing a generall Govern'mt 
in Our Territorye of New England for prevention of those evils that otherwise 
might ensue for default tliereof. 

Forasmuch as we liave understood and been credibly informed of tlie many in- 
consistencies and mischiefs that liave growne and are like more and more to arise 
amongst Our Subjects already planted in tlie parts of New England by reason of 
the severall opinions differing liumors, and many otlier difterences springing up 
between them and daily like to encreass and for that it rested not in the power of 
the Councill of New England (83- our Gracious fl'ather's royall Charter establish- 
ed for those affaires) to redress the same, without we take the whole managing 
thereof into Our owne hands, and apply vnto Our immediate power and author- 
ity, which being perceived by the principall undertakers of those businesses, 
They have humbly resigned the said Charter unto us, that thereby there may bee 
a speedy order ta ken for reformation of the aforesaid Errors and mischiefs. And 
knowing it to be a Duty proper to our Royall justice not to suffer such numbers 
of Our people runne to mine and so religious and good intents to languish for 
want of timelj' remedie and Soueraigne assistance Wee have therefore graciously 
accepted of the said Resignation and doe approve of their good affections to a 
service soe acceptable to God and to Us, And we have seriously ail vised with 
Our Councill both of the way of Reformation and of a person meet and able for 
that employment by whose grauity, moderation and experience wee have hopes 
to repair what is amiss and settlem' of those affaires to the good of Our people 
and honour of our Governmen'. And for that purpose we have resolved with 
Our selfe to iinploy Our Servant fferdinando Gorges Knight, as well for that 
Our Gracious ff'ather of blessed memory as Wee have had for a long time good 
experience of his fidelit}', circumspection and knowledge of his Governm' in 
Martiall and Civill affaires, besides his understanding of the state of those Coun- 
tryes wherein he hath been an immediate mover, and a princiijall Actor, to the 
■ great prejudice of his estate, long troubles and the loss of many of his good 
ffriends and servants in making the first discocery of these Coasts, and taking 
the first seizure thereof as of right belongs to Us Our Crowne and dignity, and is 
still resolved according to his Gracious pleasure to prosecute the same in his own 
person, which resolution and most comendable affection of his to serve Us therein, 
as We highly approve. So We hold it a property of Our princelj' care to second 
him with Our Royall and ample authority Such as shall bee meet for an employ- 
ment soe eminent and the performance of Our Service therein, whereof Wee have 
thought it fitt to make publick declaration of Our said pleasure That thereby it 
ma3' appear to our good Subjects the resolution We have graciously to provide 
for the peace and future good of those whose affection leads them to any such 
vndertaking, and withall^to signifye that Our further will and'pleasure is, That 
none bee permitted to goe into any those parts to plant or inhabit. But that they 
first acquaint our said Gouerno' therewith, or such other as shall bee deputed for 
that purpose during his aboad heer in England. And who are to receive from 
him or tliem allowance to pass with his or their further directions where to sitt 
downe most for their perticuler commodit.ves and publick good of our Service 
(saving and reserving to all those that have joyned in the Surrender of the Great 
Charter of New England and have grants iuimediately to bee holden of Us, for 
their severall plantations in the said Countrye, ffree liberty at all times hereaf- 
ter to go to themselves and also to send such numbers of people to their Planta- 
tions as .by themselves shall be thought convenient,) Hereby strictlj' charging 
and commanding all our Officers and others to whom it shall or may appertaine. 
to take notice of this our pleasure and to be careful the same bee firmlj' observed 
as they or any of them shall answer the same at their uttermost perill. Given 
at the Court of Wliitehall the 23d day of July 1637, and in the Sixteenth Yeare 
of Our Raigne. 



128 



APPENDIX G. 



The following paper filed in the British State P^per Office, in the year 1600, was 
brought to notice by Sainsbury, in his Calender of Colonial State Papers, Vol. 1^ 
page 4, a ccpj' of wliich has been obtained since tlie foregoing pages were in type. 
It is referred to in note 2 on page 18, as bearing internal evidence that Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges was its author. 

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON, A. D. 1600. 
Colonial Correspondence, Vol. I. No. 9. 

Yt beinge a verrye noble action to inlarge a dominion, wheatli'' yt be by ope 
conquest, wheare resistance is made, or by plantinge vpon plases neclected thor- 
ouglie tlie ))arbarousnes of the inhabitaintsor neyghbors, the most vertuous minds 
are easly taken w" falseste iiopes, ambision makinge a quicke sence of the good 
and easeines, and conferminge the minds againste all ditiiculties, and th'fore in 
tliis proposition of planting an Englishe Collonee in the no the weste of America: 
conceivinge that tlie vttermoste argumentts w'' the greateste hopes are expreste 
for the actio"' I thincke yt is intended that the difficulties should be examined, 
thatt by the comparison ; the possibility or glory of the worke mighte be for 
scene : yt is grauuted the strengthe o'' navy giues vs, the necessity of th main- 
tenance butt how owre State stands more dangerous tlian eur is not proved, and 
as itt is to bee wishte, that wee had plases of o' owne to furnislie soe necessary 
a comoditye as ajjertineiitts to o' shippinge, soe musce yt be examined, wheath- 
0'' cuntry should not bee as muche wrested or more to record them thence tlien by 
the wayes they haue them ; and to the argument that god foresawe or necessities 
to come of these provisions and therfore discouered to henry the 7"' thes cuntries, 
yt weare to be ansured largely, butt heare this only god foresaw from the begln- 
ninge, his purpose to haue loue amongeste all men. and therefore gaue abon- 
daunce and necessitie to countries to mak traflike, and expresse an vse one of an- 
oth'' , by which way of traffike wee are furuishte plentiouslye of all those com- 
modities, neth'' is yt to bee feared, that any tyme canne bringe fortli a matter 
sav of trade to us except all tlie world att once should torne againste vs, and 
then wee niuste keepe the new gotten by miracle and defend the ould hardly', and 
many examijles make plaine and nowe w"' vs w-3e see, thatt soe longe as a State 
resists the sword and cane furnishe mon3' or oth' matter for exchange, trafflcke. 
will bringe the enemies mosto forbidden comoditye in sufficientl3', soe as yf the 
only benefitt weare the havinge a land from whence to fetche things necessary 
for our shippinge, yt weare like to bee boughte to deere, since w '' the bringinge 
in of those trades from the easte, wee carry out our aboundinge commodities to 
the inricliinge of o' state w '> is sayde should likewyse bee downe this way, in two 
kindes, one by trafficke w t those nations that come tlietli' forfishe, and then over 
land, botli w-'' wayes require much tyme to bringe tliem to a ripenes, and in the 
trade oner land tlieare riseth many difficulties, first a^cordinge to the expression 
made yt seemed to bee an infinite greatemayneof land, & wheare yt is said the in- 
habitants speake of a bitter water w* affection would vnderstand for salte yt may 
rightlier be conceaved to bee some lake w'' are common in waste countries and 
of suche nature, the watters of them, thorrowe the seprament of the earth, and 
the saileinge in of the levcs havinge noe currantes to dense, that they euer yeld 
a bitter taste. & all thoughe at the firste and vpon the vttermoste skirte of a 
land wee find butt a naked people, & suche as while wee stay not to giue them 
law^ butt flatter them w '' toyes, and exchange to tlieyre advantange, & so depte, 
apear well inclined & aptfc to rescue vs, yett by the comparison of thisplasses 
w''' others that haue bine discouered yt may be conseaved that they haue more 
with in land townes peopled, & will when they shall see that wee attempte vpon 
them, as a people that, will p'swade acccrdinge to owre knowledges theyre good 
or forse yt, then will they putt them selves into resistance, nothing;e beinge able 
to change the forme of religion in the moste barbarous ; but the spirite of revela- 



129 

tion or an absolute eonqueste; neyth' is examijle only in many ages able to alter 
the habite of a lyfe contirintd in libertye imd idleness to order & industrye, espes- 
siallyincouldregionsw^'''l)rinj;slortli adullinlluxible people, obstinately aftectinge 
barbarous liberty, ife jeliuusol' all autliurit> tliroughe niiicli to tlieyre good, yf 
they had sence ot' civility to examine yt t)y"; soe as I finde little foundation for 
hope of trafflclce into eytli' partts untell longe tyme had made vs masters of att 
least all the convenient passages & tliose secured by fortifications or inhabitants 
subjecte to o' lause w^"" must flirste haue a besrinninge, & that is to bee examined 
how yt may rise from commodities of the flslieinge & exchange of trafficke & to 
invite vs the rath' lett vs admitt, the trafticlve to Muscouia, is a lievey jorney to 
o' marchants, in respecte of tlie longthe of the voyage & eouldness of tlie region 
w'' suflers but one voyage in a 3'eare, & there owne marchants subiecte att pleasure 
of the prinse to arrests of th' psons & goods and to passe by a straighte sea of the 
denmarks stronge in sliippinge and of whome wee cane haue noe security, and 
tliatt the easterlings may increase in there mislike and injuries towards vswheare- 
of they have given aparent marks, and from hence lett vs conclude tliat anoth' 
trade were more convenient for vs, and that this land of new found land, for the 
shortenes of tlio passage and openesse of the sea, & lesse intemperate could then 
Muscouia, havinge the commodities necessarj' for shippingc & trade settled there 
is more convenient, admittinge the necessities for ower navye to be there in abun- 
dance lett vs examine how a trade may be settled there & whatt may be the diffi- 
culties in tlieir trade as well as in the settlinge; wherein wee mustee somethings 
examnine tlie nature of the countrey, w'l. the state and inclinacon of o' people, & 
tlie oorrespondansye of that contry w''' otli' new disooueries, peopled w"'' p'ad ven- 
ture at the firste aprehension make this worke seeme the easier: The eontrye 
seems by the preposicon to be coulde, and to bringe forth commodities as coulde 
countries doth w"' industery, o"^ contry people, havinge euer bine iired w''' plenty 
in a more temperate ayre, and naturally not very industrious, att home and lesso 
to seeke out plases, wheare th" labo'* are present and tlier hopes a littell differed, 
wheareof we have too good experience by Ireland, w'' lieinge jieere vs, a tempe- 
rate and fertile coutrye, subjecte to our owne lawes and halfe siviU, the portts 
and ms>ny plases friendly inhabited, notw'''standinge many of good reputacon, 
became undertakers there in the tyme of pease, could not invite our people, ney- 
tlier in any competent numbers, nor constantly in th' action, tlie reason beinge 
cheefely that in olimatts tliatbrin^e forthe, butt yearelj' riches and that w"" labo'', 
a stocke and Industrie must lie acfventured vpon expectacon: o' able men are in 
the same trade at home allreddy, and loue ease and securitie and the poore men 
wantts weltlie to disburse any tliinge, wants wisdome to foresee the good, & wants 
vertu to haue patiens, and constantlj' to attend the reward of a good worke & 
industry: Those new discoueries inliabited by tlie portingalls & S25aniards, was in 
regions that altlioughe they were intemperately hotte, yett bringe forthe by 
reason of there heate and fertillity, gould, silver, pretious stones, spises, riche 
dies & druggs, w^h they have eyther for tlie gatlieringe or by traflicke for small 
exchange w'' was such a profitable increase, as att there returno both tlie prinses 
and people we are incurraged to inhabite not only there butt vpon all the passages 
and borders, that mighte eytli'' winne those cuntries to them or serue to keej) out 
others or them in th' trade theath', the countries for tiie mostp'te all wheare they 
doe inhabite yieldinge abundance of all things both for vse and pleasure w'ti small 
industry; and for the intemperateness of tlie some for heate, by caues and forme 
of th' howses they wth as little labo' and coste sane themselues fro that ayre, as 
wee in america are to doe by stoues from the could. The generall discouery beinge 
made, a particular discovery is to be made, of the plase wheare o' nation should 
settle, yf there be hope eyther of mines or other good returne that may draw one 
a secondinge of the action, W'' is moste to be doubted; for yf her Ma''^ shall only 
countenance jt and reeommende yt to her marchtts whoe may haVe for mcor- 
ragm> the difliculties of the esterne fruits and a gratious fredo' of the trafficke of 
America to bee only rescued to the flrste adventurers, yett when soe great a charge 
muste be firste issued as the sendinge of a eompotent nombcr to inhabite w"' all 
necessaries requisitt for new inhabitants, and victualls for a holeyeare for them, 
& that th' retorne shall bringe home nothinge aboue the ordinarye fra3-te of fish 
and a narration of the sighte of Cuntrey and ho])e of better by the next adven- 
ture, yt is feared that the ordinary wayes of traed, beinge less chargeable, they 
will content themselves, and looke vpon the dangers and alterations a farr of, 
and eyther slowlye or not all giue second ; and wheare yt is propounded that o' 
poore of England, may be easly sent thetli'' by the shippes that go to fishe yeare- 
ly they beinge deliuered a . . . the portts, w"" victualls for a yeere, O' common 
people of England are not riche, & doe almoste repine att those most behouefull 
impositions w* are layed vpon them, for leveinge of souldiers & yett those will- 
inge subsidies and payments they graunt to her Ma''<' for juste reasons deputed 
in open p'liment, then we muste remember whatt pore they are thatt arre requi- 
site to people a new Conqueste, not the impotente they muste remaine bur- 
den to the p'rishes, and then what charge would be requsite to eu'j' man, w"'' is 
not onely competent ap'rell for one yeare, money to bringe hime to the porte, & 

17 



130 

arines of defence and offence, butt victualls for a year & to plante and build 

Vfth all, for wantinge eytlier sufficiensy vntill the freute of there labors shall)u 
reapte to them, or wantinge indvstry to make sufficensy, & not havinge wheare- 
wtli to exchange for victualls wth the savadge people they shalbe forste to doe out- 
rages wch will shutt vp all way of traffleke^ or intelligens wili those people, and 
cause them to stand vf)ou force, before we . . . slialbe able to force them, or well 
to defend or selves : the number for the ftrste and secoude is likewyse to bee had 
in consideration, for the firste ytt cannott be lease then may bee thoughte com- 
petent, to forteiye and secure the harboare, to plante and geather provision for 
the nexte yeare, & to defend what soeuer they shall take for theyrs w't out they 
bee lodgings, and att the firste to avoyde the losse of tyme in the trade, tliere 
would bee builded convenient lodgings and storehowses, for tlie safe-keepinge 
and exchanginge of suche commodities, and should a trafficke betweene vs the 
people or others toe fishe, & tiie second moste p'forme as much wth an in- 

crease furthr of a competent troope or troopes, to discouer the riuers and the 
lande, wheather w'h mines or other marchandise may bee presently putt in vse 
to giue incorragemt to th . . . adventurers, for certain© charge & vncertaine re- 
tornes will quickely quaile ... an action tliowghe well founded, and this may 
well bee lookte for, that the inhabitants, will giue vs noe better way then wee 
can forse, & will easly insulte vpon or weakenes yf they can find an advantage, 
besids wee are to conceaue, thatt the frenche whoe haue pretenses, & haue a 
secreat trafficke thethr ; will repine & resiste yf they can or dare, all vuder the 
subiection of the Spaniards are declared opositts, & wee muste resolue that the 
kinge & thatt state will have his eyes open vpon ower actions, and will 3'f hee 
cane forse vs from any benifite, att leaste wee muste looke that from all his partts 
or wheare his seas thatt hee can com'and . . . lett vs in any trafficke from the 
sowthe he will barr thatt, neyther shall he need any of those traffiicks thatt plase 
will yeald vs, since bothe the easterlinges and dutches whoe haue greater trade 
into muscouia then . . . virill fiirhishe hime of all needfuU things thence thatt are 
to bee had in th .^ . p'te of America we pretend toe. Now thorowo all these diffi- 
culties, yf the pnnse would assiste yt in p'te & her marchants thatt are well af- 
fected goe liberallye into yt, & that the countries mighte bee stirred to an assist- 
ance by men in some meante measure, and some gentlemen moued to bee ventur- 
ers, thatt should foresee not only the vndertakinge butt the secondinge ; then I 
conceave that a worthye generall beinge chosen thatt mighte haue a Ro3'all com- 
mission, and weare quallifide to judge of the sighte of plases for strengthe, & for 
comodities, would exercise justice in the to the presise the merchants adven- 

turers & gentlemen or others that should thr p'sone . . . would keepe his 

troopes in obedience, industrye, & vse clemensy & justice to the inhabitinge, and 
yt mighte be a glorious action, for or prinse and countrie, honorable for the gen- 
erall and adventurers and in tyme profitable, to the generall and p'ticular, & I 
doubte not an acceptab. service to god, the purpose and execution beinge to Mag- 
nifie his name in the extending of his worde, tlioughe the example of or savior and 
his desiples is preachinge, butt not compellinge, vnlesse we may make vse of this 
thatt the firste tyme hesente forthe his desiples hee willed them to carry nothinge 
nor to care for any thinge, and the nexte tyme he commanded Iiime thatt had a 
Coate to sell itt and buy 



131 



APPENDIX H 



On page 42, note, reference is made to a paper addressed to the King, by the 
Scotcli adventurers, Rbasoxs Alledged for Holding Pout Roval, which is 
of so much liistoric interest and value tliat we give the same in full, copied from 
the British State Paper Office, and not heretofore published. 

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON. 
Colonial, Yol. 5. No. 102. x 

Immediately about the time that Columbus discovered the Isle of Cuba, Sebas- 
tian Chabot set out from England by Henrie the seuenth did first discouer the 
continent of America, beginning at tlie Newfoundland, and thereafter going to the 
(iulph of Canada and from thence hauin^ seene Cap Bretton all along the Coast 
to Florida, By which diseouery his Ma"° hath the title to Virginia, New England 
and New Scotland, as being then first discouered by Chabot at the charges of the 
K of England. 

The French after this neglecting the knowledge thej^ had thereafter by Jaques 
Cartier of the riuer of Canada as a cold climate, or as it may bee in regard it was 
challenged as first discouered bj- the English, having a great desire to possesse 
themselues in some part of America, they planted first a Colony vnder the charge 
of Mons' Villegas now in Brasill, and an otlier vnder the charge of Mons'' Laudo- 
niere in Florida, from both which thej' were expelled by the Spaniards. 

Then giving oner all hope of attempting anything that was belonging to the 
Spaniards and pressing by all meanes to have some interest in America, notwith- 
standing that the Englisli (though they were not able to possesse the whole atflrst) 
had possessed themselves of that continent, discouered by them, by a Colonie in 
the South part thereof now called Virginia, and by an other in the North part 
thereof now called New England and New Scotland planted by Justice Popham. 

The French in the time of Henry the Fourth vnder the cliarge of Mons'' Pou- 
trincourthauingseeneall the coasts ofNewengland andNewscotland toboth which 
parts they did then beginne to claime right. They seated themselues in Tort Roy- 
al, out of wliich as soone as it was made knowne to the English they were dis- 
planted Ijy Sr. Samuel Argall, as having wrongfully intruded themselues within 
those bounds, which did belong to this Crowne, both by diseouery and possession. 

Tlie remainder of this French Collony not hauing occasion to bee transported 
to France, sta3'ed still in the Countrie, yet they were so neglected by the State, 
not owning them any more and hardly supplied in that which was necessary for 
them by voluntary adventurers, who came to trade in hope of their commodities 
in exchange of what they brought, and during the time of King James there was 
no complaint made vpon S'- Samuel Argall for hauing displauted tliem, and they 
were now lately glad to demand that protection from his Ma'« which was not afford- 
ed tliem from anj^ other. Whereby it may euidently appeare that his Ma'" title 
was thouglit good. Otherwise it is likely that the French King, if any wrong had 
beene done unto him, would haue sought to haue had the same repaired, 
either b}^ Treatie or otherwise. But without making either any priuat complaint, 
or yet doing any publick Act against the same, They went next and seated them- 
selues vpon the Northside of the river of Canada at Kebeek, a place wliereunto 
the English by a preceding title might likewise haue claimed right. But small 
notice was taken thereof till during the time of the late warre, a Commission 
was giuen by his >Ia''"= to remoue them from thence, which was accordingly j^er- 
formed, the place being taken a little after the peace was concluded, which at 
that time had not come to the takers knowledge, and a Colonie of Scottish was 
planted at Port Royal, wliich had neuer beene repossesed nor claimed by the 
French since they were first remoued from the same. 

This businesseof Port Royall cannot be made lyable to the articles of the peace, 
seeing there was no Act of hostilities comitted therebj-, a Colonny onely beoing 
planted vpon his Ma" owne ground, according to a patent granted by his Ma" 
latedeare father and his Ma" self, hauing as good right thereunto as to any part 



132 

of that Continont. luul liotli t ho patent and possession taken tlu'voupon was in 
the time ot" his Ma" lato doaro t'atlior, as is set downe at lenii'tli in tlio voya<i;es 
written li\ Turehas. Hut neither by tiiat possession nor l)y the snl)scquont" pla- 
ta'on liatli any tliini;' lieene tal<en from the Kreneh wliereoftliey liad any ri^ht at 
all, ov yet any possession lor tlie time, and what niiijlit haue beono done either 
before tlie warre or sinee tlie warre witliout a broaeh of peace, cannot justly bee 
complained vi)on for l)ein^' done at that time. 

After that the Seottisli ('olony was planted at I'ort Royal, they and tl\e French 
who dwelled tliere lianinii' met witli tlie Commanders of the Natives, ealled by 
them 8a'j;an\oes did make ehoiee of one of the eheefe of tliem ealled 8ai;anio!Sit|;ipt 
to eonie in name of the rest to his Ma'"' for acknowlcdy;ing of his title, and to be- 
come his Ma' ' snlijeets, eraninu; onely to bee protected by his MiV" against their 
enemies, whieli demand of liis was accepted by his 3!a''<' who did promise to pro- 
tect them, as he reporteil to the rest at his returi\e. 

Mons"^ La Tonr. who was eheefe eoniand' of the few French then in that coun- 
trio boeinss neglected (as is said) by his owne Conntrieinen, and tindinsi his Ma."'^ 
title not so mneli as qnestioned after theyr beeini; expelled from Tort ftoyall and 
the eominii' in of tlie iSeottisli necessary fin- his seenritie did eome alon;;- with the 
same 8a;i'amo ollVinii; and demandiii'i; the like in name of the French who liuo 
there, so that his >ra''' hatli a i;-ood ri?;'ht r.o New Scotland by ilisconere, by pos- 
session of his Ma" snbjects, bv rcmouins; of the French who had seated them- 
selves at Port Uoyall and by Mons. La Tonr the coniander of them there his turn- 
in-i Tenant and b\ tlie vidontarie tnrniii'^ tenants of the rest to his Ma'"', And 
that no obstacle miiiht remaine the ver\ tNauaj^es by their t'oniinissioiier willing- 
ly oflerina; their obc(iienee vnto his 31a''' so that Ids .Ala'"' now is liound to main- 
taine them both in re^jard of his snbjccts that have ]danted there vpon his war- 
rant and of the i>romise that he made to the Commissioner of the Xatiues that 
came to him from tlience, as he promised to the t'oninussioner of tlie N'atiucs, and 
as all the subjects of his Ma" ancient Kingdome of Scotland did humbly entreat 
at their last conuentiou, as may appearo by a letter to his Ma'"' from his Counsel 
to that elVect. 

indorsed. Keasons alleagcd by the Scottish adventurers for the holdiny; of 
Tort Royal. 

l")iscours 
Concerning his Ma'' right and title to the port Royall and whole Canada, etc. 
9 Sepf 1C30. 
Canada, 



APPENDIX 1. 



COXtfiTITUEXT CODE OF LAWS. 

On page 'M. Appendi.x A.. Section 7 of the Virginia Charter of April 10, 1606, 
will be found a provision, that each of the Colonies is to have a Council which 
shall govern " according to nuch Laws, OrdinaJices and Inxtructions as shall be in that 
behalf, given and si:jncd by our Hand, or Sign Manual, and pass under the Privy Seal 
of our nation of Ent/land.'''' iS-c 

This Constituent Code is contained in the following papers, under which the 
government at Sabino wa-s onlained and established. 

On the 19th of August, 0. S., 1607, after taking possession, first came acts of 
religious worship— the Commission of Governor Popham was then read, author- 



) 



/ 

1.33 

izingthe conducting hither of a Colony — then the Charter of April 10, ICOO ; 
after that, the " Laws to be ohnerved and kept." Then followed the election of 
Preaident and other officers, in conformity with the in.-;truction.« of the following 
Constituent Code of Laws, signed by King JaineH, under date of Nov. 2*J, W)fi, 
and of March 9, I6(j7. 



Articles, Instructions and Orders made, sett down and established by us, twen- 
tieth day of November, in the year of our raigne of England, France, and Ire- 
land the fourth and of Scotland the fortieth, for the go'>d Order and Oovemment 
of the two several Colonies and Plantations to be made by our loving subject.H, 
in the Country commonly called Virginia and America, between thirty four 
and forty five degrees from the .Equinoctial line — 

Istructions, Wherai?, wee, by our letters pattents under our great seale of 
&c for the 2 England, bearing date att Westminster, the tenth day of Aprill, 
Colonies of in the year of our raipie of England, France, and Irelau'l the 
Virginia fourth, and of Scotland the 'i'jth have given lycence to sundry our 

loving i:ubject.s named in the said letters pattents and Uj their as- 
sociates, to deduce and conduct two several collonies or plantations of sundry our 
loving people willing to abide and inhabit in certaine parts of 
Recital of Virginia and America, with divers preheminences. privileges, au- 
former char- thorities and other things, as in and by the same letters pattents 
ter more particularly it appeareth, wee according to the effect and 

true meaning of the same letters pattents, doe by these presents, 
signed with our hand, signe manuel and sealed with our privy seale of our realme 
of England, establish and or'laine, that our trusty and well beloved Sir William 
Wade, Knight, our Lieutenant of our Tower of London, Sir Thomas Smith, 
Knight, Sir Walter Cope, Knight, Sir George 3Iore, Knight, Sir Francis Popham, 
Knight, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Kniglit, Sir John Trevor, Knight, Sir Henry 
Montague, Knight, recorder of the Citty of London, Sir William Pv'jmnev', 
Knight, John Dodderidge, Esq. SoUicitor General, Thomas Warr, Esq'. John El- 
dred of the citty of London, merchant, Thomas .James of the citty of Bristol, 
merchant, and James Ba^^e of PliTuouth, in the countyoflJevon.shire, merchant, 
shall be our councel for all matters which shall happen in Virginia of any the terri- 
tories of America, between thirty -four and forty-tive degrees from the aequinoc- 
tial line northward, and the Islands to the several ccjUonies limited and assigned, 
and that they shal be called the King's Councel of Virginia, which councel or the 
most part of them shal have full power and authority, att our pleasure, in our 
name, and under u.s, our heires and .successors, to give direction.'* 
lo the councels of the several collonies which slial l>e within any 
j>art of the .said country of Virginia and America, within the de- 
grees first above mentioned, with the Islands afore.said, for the 
go'.»d government of the people to be planted in those parts, and 
for the good ordering and disposing of all causes happening with- 
in the same, and the same to be done for the substance thereof, as neer to the 
common lawes of England, and the equity thereof, as may be, and to passe under 
our seale, appointed for that councel, which councel, and every 
Councillors, or any of them shall from time to time be increased, altered 
how nomina- or changed, and others put in their places, att the nomination 
ted — of us, our heires and successors, and att our and their will and 

pleasure, and the same councel of Virginia_, or the more part of 
them, for the time being shall nominate and appoint the first severall concell- 
ours of those several councells, which are to l.>e appointe'l for those two several 
■Rach Conn colonies, which are to be made plantations in Virginia and Amer- 
nUtn r iiAr aZ *^^' b^t^^^en the degrees before mentioned, according to our said 
a nreaident • l^^^^" pattents in that behalfe made ; and that each of the same 
hi^ ^ntinii ' c^oncels of the same several colonies shal, by the major part of 
nance in r f *hem, chfKise one of the same councel, not l>eing the minister of 
fice God's word, to be president of the same councel, and to continue 

in that office, by the space of one whole year, unless he shall in 
the mean time dye or be removed from that office -, and wee doe further hereby 
establish and ordaine, that it shal be lawful for the major part of 
either of the said councells, upon any just cause, either absence or 
Vacancies otherwise to remove the piresident or any others of that Councel, 
how Bnppli- from being either president or any of that councel, and upon the 
ed. deathes or removal of anj- of the presidents or councel. it shal be 

lawfull for the major part of that councel, to elect another in the 



184 

place of the parly soe dying or removed, so alwaies, as they shal not he above 
. thirteen of either of tlie said councellours, and we doe estabiisii 

Christian re- ^^^ ordaine, that the president shai not continue in his oflice of 
ligion to oe pregifjentship above the space of one year ; and wee doe specially. 
preacnea a- yj-da^j^g^ charge, and require, tlie said presidents and councclls, 
mong the col- ,^^^ y^g ministers of the said several colonies respectively, within 
onisis and. the ^jjgjj. several limits and precincts, tliat they, with all diligence, 
savages. care, and respect, doe provide, that the true word, and service of 

God and Christian faitli be preached, planted, and used, not only within every of 
the said several colonies, and plantations but alsoe as much as they may amongst 
the salvage people which doe or shall adjoine unto them, or border upon them, 
according to the doctrine, rights, and religion now professed and established 
within our realme of England, and that they shall not suffer an3' jjerson, or per- 
sons to withdrawe any of the subjects or people inhabiting, or which sliall inhab- 
it within any of tlie said several colonies and jilantations from the same, or from 
their due allegiance, unto us, our heirs and successors, as their immediate sove- 
raigne under God, and if they shall find within any of the said 
Penaltj' for colonies and plantations, any person or persons soe seeking to 
withdrawing withdrawe any of the subjects of us, our heirs or successors, or 
any of the any of the people of those lands or territories, within the pre- 
people from cincts aforesaid, they shall with all diligence, him or them soe of- 
their reli.gion fending, cause to be aj)prehended, arrested, and imprisoned, until 
or allegiance, he shall fully and throughly reforme himselfe, or otherwise, when 
the cause so requireth, that he shall, with all convenient speed be 
sent into our realme of England, here to receive condigne punishment for his or 
their said offence or offences, and moreover wee doe hereby ordaine and establish 
for us, our heirs and successors, that all the lauds, tenements. 
How lands and hereditaments to be had and enjoyed by any of our subjects 
to descend within the precincts aforesaid, shal be had and inherited and in- 
and pass. joyed, according as in the like estates they be had aud enjoyed by 

the lawes within this realme of England ; and that the offiences 
of tumults, rebellion, conspiracies, mutiny and seditions in those parts which 
may be dangerous to the estates there, together with murder, manslaughter, in- 
cest, rapes, and adulteries committed in those parts within the 
How certain j^recincts of any the de"Tees above mentioned (and noe other of- 
offences to be fences) shal be punished by death, and that without the benefit of 
punished. the clergy, except in case of manslaughter, in which clergy is to 

bo allowed, and that the several presidents and councells, and 
the greater number of them, within every of the several limits and precincts, 
shall have full power and authority, to hear and determine all and every the 
oifences aforesaid, within the precinct of their several colonies, in manner and 
forme following, that is to say, by twelve honest and indifferent 
Trial by jury, persons sworne upon the Evangelists, to be returned by such 
ministers and officers as every of the said presidents and coun- 
cells, or the most part of them respectively shall assigne, and the twelve per- 
sons soe returned and sworne shall, according to their evidence to be given unto 
them upon oath and according to the truth, in their consciences, either convict 
or acquit every of the said persons so to bo accused and tried by them, and that 
all and every person or persons, which shall voluntarily confesse any of the said 
oflences to be committed by him, shall, upon such his confession thereof, be con- 
victed of the same, as if he had been found guilty of the same. 
Judgement by the verdict of anj^ such twelve jurors, as is aforesaid ; and that 
on standing every person and persons wliieh shall be accused of an j' of the said 
mute, or by offences, and which shall stand mute, or refusing to make direct 
oonfession. answer thereunto, shall be, and he held convicted of the said 
offence, as if he had been found guilty by the verdict of such 
twelve jurors, as aforesaid ; and that every jierson and persons soe convicted either 
p -1 i J by verdict, his own confession, or by standing mute, or by refusing 
i^resicient ana (jij-gctly to answer as aforesaid of an 3' the offences beformentioned, 
Louncel to ^j^g ^^jj^ presidents, or councells, or the greatest number of them 
pronounce within their several precincts and limits, where such conviction 
judgment. shall be had and made as aforesaid, shall have full power and 

authority, by these presents, to give judgment of death upon every such offender 
without the benefit of the elerjjy, except only in case of man- 
Reprieve by slaughter, and noe person soe aujudged, attainted, or condemned 
the president shall be reprieved from the execution of the said judgment, with- 
and council— out tlie consent of the said president and councel or the most part 
pardoning by of them by whom such judgment shall be given ; and that noe 
the King! person shall receive an3f pardon or be absolutely discharged of 

an3' the said offences, for which he shall be condemned to death as 
aforesaid, but b3' pardon of us, our heirs and successors, under our great scale of 
England ; aud wee doe in like manmer establish and ordaine, if any either of 



135 

the said eoUonies shall offend in any of the offences before men- 
Offenders to tionud, within any part between tlie degrees aforesaid, out of 
be tried in the precincts or his or their collony, that then every such offend- 
their colony, er or offenders shall be tried and punished as aforesaid within his 

or tlieir proper collony ; and that every the said presidents and 
councells, within their several limits and precincts, and the more part of them 
President shall have power and authority by these presents, to liear and de- 
ft council to termine all and every other wrongs, trespasses, offences, and mis- 
have power to demeanors whatsoever, other than those before mentioned, upon 
hear and de- accusation of any person, and proofe thereof made, by sufficient 
termine all witness upon oatli ; and tliat in all those cases the said president & 
civil causes, councel, and the greater number of tlieni, shall have power and 
authority, b}' these presents respectively, as is aforesaid, to punisli the offender or 
offenders, either by reasonable corporal punisliment and imprisonment, or else 
by convenient fine, awarding damages or other satisfaction, to the party grieved, 
as to the said president and councelT, or to tlie more part of them, shall be thought 
fltt and convenient, liaving regard to the quality of the offence, or state of the 
cause ; and that also the said president and councel, shall have power and author- 

itj', by virtue of these presents, to punish all manner of excesse. 

To punisli through drunkennesse or otlierwaise, and all idle loytering and 

excesses and vagrant persons, which shall be found within their several limits 

drunkenness, and precincts, according to their best discretion and with such 

convenient punishment, as they or the most part of them shall 
IIow judicial think fitt ; alsoe our will and pleasure, concerning the judi- 
proceedings cial proceedings aforesaid, that tlie same shall be made and done . 
to he entered, summarily, and verbally without writing, until it come to the 

judgment or sentence, and yet nevertheless our will and pleasure 
is, that every judgment and sentence hereafter to be given in any causes the afore- 
said, or in anj' other of tlie said several presidents and councells or the greater 
number of them, [within their several limits and precincts, shall be breifely and 
summarily registered into a book, to be kept for that purpose, togetlier with the 
cause for which the said judgment or sentence was given ; and tluit the said jud"- 
ment and sentence, so registered and written, shall be subscribed with the hands 
or names of the said president, and councel, or such of them as gave tlie judg- 
ment or sentence ; alsoe our will and pleasure is, and wee doe hereby establish 

and ordaine, that the said several collonies and plantations, and 
How the col- every person and persons of the same, severally and respectively, 
onists are to shall within every of their several precincts, for the space of live 
trade for the years, next after their first landing upon the said coast of Virginia 
first 5 j'ears. and America, trade together all in one stocke or devideably, but 

in two or three stocks at the most, and bring not only all the 
fruits of their labours there, but alsoe all such other goods and commodities 
which shall be brought out of England, or any other place, into the same collo- 
nies, into severall magazines or store houses, for that purpose to be made, and 
erected there, and that in such order, manner and form, as the councel of that 
colony, or the more part of them shall sett downe and direct ; and our will and 
pleasure is, and wee doe in like manner ordaine, that in every of the said collo- 
nies and plantations there shall be chosen there, elected yearely, by the presi- 
dent and councell of every of the said several colonies and plantations or the 
more part of them, one person, of the same colonj- and plantation, to be treasurer 
or cape-merchant of tlie same collony and plantation to take charge and man- 
nageinge of all such goods, wares and commodities which shall be brought into 
f, - or taken out of the severall magazines or store houses ; the same 

t^ape-mer- treasurer or cape-merchant to continue in his office by the space 
cnant. ^j- ^^^ whole year, next after his said election, unless he shall 

happen to dye within the said year, or voluntarily give over the same or be re- 
moved for any just or reasonable cause ; and that thereupon the same president & 
councell, or the most part of them, shall have power and authority to elect him 
again or any other or others in his room or stead, to continue in the same office as 
aforesaid ; and that alsoe there shall be two or more persons of good discretion 
within every of the said colonies and plantations elected and chosen yearely 
during the said terme of five years, by the president and councell of the same 

collony, or the most "part of them respectively, within their 
Clerks. several limits and precincts, the one or more of them to keep a 

book in which shall be registered and entred all such goods, 
wares, and merchandizes, as shall be received into the several magazines or 

store houses within that collony, beingappointed for that purpose. 
Books. and the other to keep a like book, wherein shall be registered all 

goods, wares, and merchandizes which shall issue or be taken out 
of any the several magazines or store-houses of that collony, which clarks shall 
continue in their said places but att the will of the president and councell of that 
colony, whereof he is or of the major part of them ; and that every person or 



136 

every the said several colonies, and plantations shall be furnish- 
,, . ) ed with all necessaries out of those several magazines or store- 
Magazines. ^ houses whicli shall belong to the said colony and plantation, in 
which that person is, for and during tlie terme and time of five years, by the ap- 
pointment, direction and order ot the president and councell there, or the said 
cape mercliant and two clerks or of tlie most part of them, within the said several 
limits and precincts of the said colonies and plantations ; alsoe our will and 
r fl 'psi pleasure is, and wee doe hereby ordain, that the adventurers of 
companies, ^j^^ g^^j^ gj.gj. g^io^y ^nd plantation, shall and may during the 
said terme of five years, elect and clioose out of themselves one or more compan- 
ions, each company consisting of three persons att the least who shall be resident 
att or neer London, or such other place, and places, as the councell of the colony 
for the time being, or the most part of them during the said five years shall tiiink 
fltt, who shall there from time to time take charge of the trade an accompt of all 
such goods, wares and merchandizes, and other things whicli shall be sent from 
tlience to the company of the same colony, or plantation in Virginia, and like- 
wise of all such wares, goods and merchandizes, as shall be brought from the 
said colony or plantation unto that place within our realme of England, and of 
all things concerning the manuaging of the affaires and profits concerning the 
Aflvpntiirnr- adveuturors of that comjiany which shall soe passe out of or come 
inthfi od poin ^^^^ ^^''^^ place or port ; and likewise our will and pleasure is, 
tiv mnv with ^^^^^ ^^^ ad venturers in the said second colony and plantation 
in fi^ vears ^'^^^l and may during the said terme of five years elect out of 
plprt nnt rf themselves, one or nioro companies, each company consisting 
H >i Joi p- "^ three persons alt the least, who shall be resident att, or near 
onp or more Plymouth in our county of Devon, within our realme of Eng- 
TiiioriioT laud, and att such one, two, or three other places or ports, as 

companies. ^j^^^ councell of that colony, or the most part of them shall think 

fitt, who shall there, from time to time, take care and charge of the trade and 
account of all such goods, wares; merchandizes and other things, which shall be 

sent from thence from the same colony and jjlantation in Virgin- 
Their power ia, and likewise of all such goods, wares and merchandizes as 
and duty. shall be brought from the said colony and plantation in Virginia, 

into our realme of England, and of all things concerning the 
mannaging of the affaires and profits of the adventurers of that company ; alsoe 

our will and pleasure is, that no person or persons shall be admit- 
Colonists to ed into any of the said colonies and jdantations there to abide and 
take certain remaine, but such as shall take not only the usual oath of obe- 
oaths. dience to us, our heirs, and successors, but alsoe the oath which is 

limited in the last session of Parliament holden at Westminster 
in the fourth year of our raigne, for their due obedience unto us our heirs and 
.successors, that the trade to, and from any the colonies aforesaid may be man- 
naged to, and from such ports and places, within our realme of England, as is 
President and ^^^fore in these articles intended, any thing set down heretofore 
Council ^° *'''® contrary notwithstanding, and that the said President and 

Councell of each of the said colonies, and the more part of them 
respectively shall and may lawfully from time to time constitute, make and 
ordaine such constitutions, ordinances, and oflicers, for the better order, govern- 
ment and peace of the people of their several coUonics, soe alwaies as the same 
ordinances, and constitutions doc not touch anj' party in life or member, which 
constitutions, and ordinances shall stand, and continue in full force, untill the 
same shall be otherwise altered, or made void, by us, our heirs, or successors, or 

our, or their councel of Virginia, soe alwaies as the same altera- 
May pass or- tions, be such as may stand with, and be in substance consonant 
dinances, &o. unto the lawes of England, or the equity thereof ; furthermore, 

our will, and pleasure is, and wee doe hereby determine and 
ordaine, that every person and persons being our subjects of every the said collo- 

nies and plantations shall from time to time well entreate those 
Must promote salvages in those parts, and use all good means to draw the sal- 
civilization vages and heathen people of the said several places, and of the 
among the territories and countries adjoining to the true service and knowl- 
Indians. ed'^e of God, and that all just, kind and charitable courses, shall 

be holden with such of them as shall conforme themselves to any 
good and sociable trafticiue and dealing with the subjects of us, our heires and 
successors, which shall be planted there, whereby they may be the sooner drawne 
to the true knowledge of God, and the obedience of us, our heirs, and successors, 
under such severe paines and punishments, as shall be inflicted by the same sev- 
eral presidents, and councells of the said several colonies, or the most part of 
them within their several limits and precincts, on' such as shall offend therein, 

or doe the contrary ; and that as the said territories and countries 
Provision for of Virginia and America within the degrees aforesaid shall from 
f\irther ordi- time to time increase in plantation by our subjects, wee our heires 
nances, &c. and successors will ordaine and give such order, and further in- 



137 

structions, lawos, cnnstitutionp, and ordinancps for tho better order, rule and 
government of tiucli, as sue shall make plantations tlicro, as to us, our licires 
and successors, sliall from time to time be tliou:4;lit fitt and convenient, wliich 
alwaies sliall lie suuli, as may stand with, or he in substance, consonant unto 
the iawes of England, or the equity thereof, and lastly wee doe ordaine, and 
establish for us, our lieires and successors, that such oath shall be taken by each 
of our councellors here for Virginia concerning their place and oflice of coun- 

cell, as bj' the privy couucell of us, our heires and successors of 
Councillors to this our realme of England, sliall be in that behalf limited and 
take an oath, ajipointed ; and tliat tach couneellor of the said colonies sliall 

take such oath, for the execution of their place and office of coun- 
col, as by the councel of us, our heires and successors here in England, for Vir- 
ginia sliall in that behalfe be limited and ajjpointed, and as well those several ar- 
ticle and instructions herein mentioned and contained, as alsoe all such as by 
virtue hereof shall hereafter be made and ordained, shall as need shall require, 
by the advice of our councel here for Virginia shall be transcripted over unto 
the said several councells of'tlie said several colonies, under tho scale to be or- 
dained for our said couucell here for Virginia. In witnesse, &c. 



An Ordinance and Constitution enlarging the number of our 
Councel for the two several Colonies and Plantations in Virgina 
and America, betweeen tliirty-four and forty-five degrees of north- 
erly latitude, and augmenting their authority, for the better directing and order- 
ing of sueli tilings as shall concerne the said Colony. 

Recital. James, by the grace of God, &c. Whereas wee, by our letters pat- 

tents, under our great scale of England, bearing date the tenth 
day of April last past, have given lycence to sundry our loving subiects, named 
in the said letters patents, and to their associates, to deduce and conduct two sev- 
eral colonies or plantations of sundry our loving people, willing to abide and 
inhabit in certain parts of Virginia and America, and divers prehemincnces, priv- 
iledges, authorities and other things as in and by the said letters patents more 
particularly it api^careth ; and whereas wee, according to the effect and true 
meaning ot the said letters patents, have, by a former instrument signed with our 
hand and signe mauuel, aiid scaled with our privy seal of our 
Ordinance &c. roalme of England, ostabli;died and ordained, that our trusty and 
enlarging the well-beloved Sir William Wade, Knight, our Lieutenant of our 
councils. Tower of London, Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, Sir Walter Cope, 

Knight, Sir George More, Knight, Sir Francis Pophain, Knight, 
Former coun- Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, Sir John Trevor, Knight, Sir Hen- 
cillors. rv 3Ioiitague, Knight, recorder of our citty of London, Sir Will- 

iam Koniney, Knight, John Doddcridge, Esq', our solicitor general, 
Thomas Warr, Esqr. .John Eldred of our city of London, merchant, Thomas 
James of our cittv of Bristol, merchant, and James P.agge of Plymouth, in our 
county of Devon, "merchant, should be our councel for all matters which should 
happen in Virginia or any territories of America atbresaid, or any actions, busi- 
nessc or causes for and concerning the same, which councel is from time to time 
to be increased, altered, or changed att the nomination of us, our heirs and suc- 
cessors, and att our and their will and jilcasure ; and whereas our 
Theirnumber. said councel have found by exi>erience, their number being but 
fourteen in all, and most of them dispersed by reason of their sev- 
al habitations far and remote the one from the other, and many of them in like 
manner far remote from our citty of London, where, if need re<inire, tlicy may re- 
ceive directions from us and our privy councel, and from whence instructions and 
directions may be bv them left and more readily given, for the said colonies, that 
when very needful occasion requireth, there cannot bo any competent number of 
them, byany mcenes be drawne together for consultation ; for remedy whereot 
our said loving subjects of the several colonies aforesaid, liavc been humble suit- 
ors unto us, and have to that purpose offered unto our royal consideration, the 
names of certaine sage and discreet persons, and having witii the like humility en- 
treated us, that the said jiersons or soe many of them, as to ns should seem good, 
might be added unto them, and might (during our pleasure) be of our councel for 
the foresaid colonies of Virginia, wee therefore, for tho better establishing, dispos- 
ing, orderring and directing of the said several colonies, within the degrees afore- 
said, and of all such afl'aires, matters, and things, as shall touch and concerne 
the same, doe by these presents, signed with our hand and signe mamiel, and seal- 

18 



138 

ed with our privy seale o-f eur realme of England, establish and ordaine, that 

our trusty and well beloved Sir Thomas ChaDonor, Knight, Sir 

Additional Henry Nevil, Knight, Sir Fulks Grevil, Knight, Sir Jo'n Scot, 

councillors Knight,- Sir Kobert ilanstkld. Knight, Sir Oliver Cromwell, 

nominated by Knight, Sir Morrice Berkeley, Knight, Sir Edward Michclbourne, 

thel"' Colony. Knight, Sir Thomas Ilolcroft, Knight Sir Thomas Smith, Knight, 

clerk of our privy councel. Sir Robert Kelligrew, Knight, Sir 
Robert Croft, Knight, Sir George Kopping, Knight, SirEdwyn Sandys, Knight, 
Sir Thomas Kow, Knight, and Sir Anthony Talmcr, Knight, nominated unto 

us by and on the behalfe of the said tirst eolony ; Sir Edward 

By the 2*001- llungerford. Knight, Sir Jo'n Mallet, Knight, Sir John Gilbert, 

ony. Knight, Sir Thomas Freake, Knight, Sir liichard Hawkings, 

Knight, Sir Bartholomew Mitcliel, Knight, Edward Seaniour, Esq'. 
Bernard Greenville, Et^qr. Edward Rodgers, Esqr. and Matthew Sutclifl'e, LXfctor 
of Divinity, nominated to Us by and on tlie behalfe of the said second colony shall, 
together with the persons formerly named, be our councel for all matters, which 
shall or may conduct to the aforesaid plantations, ^r which shall happen in Vir- 
ginia or any the territories of America, between thirty-four and forty-tive degrees 
of northerly latitude from the equinoctial line, and the Islands to the several colo- 
nies limited and assigned. That is to say, the tirst colony, from thirty-four to for- 
ty-one degrees of the said latitude, and the second colony between thirty-eight and 
ibrty-tive degrees of the said latitude; and our further will and pleasure, and by 

tliese presents for Us, our heires and successors, wee doe giant unto 

Any 12 may our said councel of Virginia, that they or any twelve of them att 

act. the least for the time being whereof six att the least to be members 

of one of the said colonies, and six more att the least to be mem- 
bers of the other colony, shall have full power and authority, to ordaine, nomi- 
nate, elect, and choose any other person, or persons at their discretion to be and 
to serve as otiicer or officers, to all offices and places, that shall by them be thought 
iitt and requisite for the businesse and aflfaircs of our said councel, and concerning 
the plantation or plantations aforesaid, and for the summoning, calling, and as- 
sembling of the said councel, together when need shall require, or for summoning 

and calling before the said councel, any of the adventurers, or oth- 
Their power ers which shall passe on unto the said several colonies to inhabit or 

totraffick there or any other such like otiicer, or officers, which in 
time shall or ma^ be found of use, behoofe or importance unto the councel afore- 
said [And the said councel or any twelve of them as is aforesaid 
May change shall have full power and authority from time to time to continue or 
their officers, to alter or change the said officers and to elect and appoint others 

in their roomes and pla;ces, to nwike and ordain acts and ordinances 
for the better ordering disposing and marshalling of the said several colonies and 
the several adventurers or persons going to inhabit in the same several colonies, or 
of any provision or provisions for the same, or for the direction of the officers 
aforesaid,. or tor the making of them to be subordinate or under jurisdiction one of 
another, and to do and execute all and every of their act and things which by any 
our grants or letters patents heretofore made they are warranted or authorised to 
do or execute so as always none of the said acts and ordinances or other things 
be contrary or repugnant to the true intent and meaning of our said letters pa- 
tents granted for the plantation of the said several colonies in Virginia and territo- 
ries of America as aforesaid, orcontrary to the laws and statutes in this our realme 
of England, or in derogation of our prerogative royal. Witness ourself at West- 
minster, the ninth day of March, in the year of our reign of England, France and 
Ireland the fourth, and of Scotland the fortieth, &c.] 



APPENDIX J. 



On page 81, reference is made to the grant of January 13, 1629, to William 
Bradford, for the benefit of the Plymouth Colony, establishing their territorial 
boundaries, and adding largely to their means of support, by the donation of the 
large and valuable tract on the Kennebec, extending fifteen miles on each side of 
that river, from the Cobbessee-Contee (Gardiner) to the Nequamkike (Waterville.) 
To show under what circumstances this Charter was given, and as evidence of the 



139 

estimation in wliich Sir Ferdiuando Gorges was held by tlie Pli'moutli Company, 
wo give below two letters from Governor Bradford to him, in 1627 and 1628, taken 
from Bradford's Letter Book, printed in the Massachusetts Historical Collections, 
1st series, vol. Ill, pages 57 and 63. The letters, in connection with the subse- 
quent grant, show how noble and generous was Gorges' conduct to this Plymouth 
Colony, and refutes the assertions subsequently made by Bradford, of his lack of 
friendship for them. The Plymouth Company at the outset, was made up of 
sincere and worthy people, but gradually assimilated toward the fierce charac- 
ters that ruled the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. 



LETTEK TO SIR FERDINAISTDO GORGES. 

Honorable Sir : 

My humble duty remembered ; we have of late received letters from the Dutch 
Plantation, and have had speech with some of them. I hold it my duty to acquaint 
your worship, and the rest of tlie Honorable Council, therewith, unto whom 
we have likewise writ, and sent, the copies of their letters, tliat together with 
their, and your honorable directions, we may know how to order ourselves here- 
in. They have used trading there this six or seven and twenty years, but have 
begun to plant of later time, and now liave reduced tlieir trade to some order, and 
confined it only to tlieir company, which heretofore was spoiled by their seamen 
and interlopers, as ours is this year most notoriously ; of whom we have made 
some complaint in our letters to the Council, not doubting but we shall find 
worshipful furtherance therein. We are now upon concluding with our adven- 
turers, and shall be put upon hard straits bj- great payments which weareenfored 
to make for sundry yeans, or else to leave all, wliich will be to us very difficult : 
and, to say the trutli, if tliese disorders of fishermen and interlopers be not reme- 
died, no plantations are able to stand, liut will decay, whereas otlierwisethey may 
subsist and flourish : Thus in all humbleness, I take leave, and rest 

At your service, William Bradford. 

Plymouth, June 15, Anno 1627. 

P. S. Beside the spoiling of the trade this last year, our boat and men, had 
like to have been cut off by the Indians, after the fishermen were gone, for the 
wrongs which they did them, in stealing their skins, and other abuses offered 
them, both tlie last year and tliis: and besides, they still continue to truck pieces, 
powder and shot with them, which will be the overthrow of all, if it be not looked 
unto. 



TO SIR FERDINANDO GORGES. 

Honorable Sir : 

As you have ever been, not only a favorer, but also a most special beginner and 
furtherer of the good of this country, to your great cost and no less honor, we, whose 
names are underwritten, being some of every plantation in the land, dejDuted for 
the rest, do humbly crave j'our worship's help and best assistance, in the speedy, 
(if not too late,) redress of our almost desperate state and condition in this place, 
expecting daily to be overrun and spoiled b.v tlie savages, who are already- abun- 
dantly furnished with pieces, powder and shot, swords, rapiers and javelins : all 
of which arms and munition is this year plentiful)}' and publicly sold unto them 
by our own countrymen ; who under the pretence of fishing come a trading amongst 
them: yea, one of them (as your worship may further understand by our particular 
informations) hath for his part sold twenty or twenty-one pieces, and one hundred 
weight of powder, by which you may conceive of the rest, lor we hear the savages 
have above sixty pieces amongst them : besides other arms : in a word, there is al- 
most nothing vendihle amongst them, but such munitions so they have spoiled the 
trade in all other things. And as vice is always fruitful, so from the greedy cove- 
tousncss of the fishermen, and their evil example, the like hath began to grow 
amongst some, who pretend themselves to be planters, though indeed they in- 
tend nothing less but to take opportunity of the time and provide tliemselves and 
begone, and leave others to quench the fire which they have kindled, of which 
number, Mr. Thomas Morton is one, being of late a dweller in the Massaciiusetts 
Bay, and the head of a turbulent and seditious crew, which he had gathered unto' 
him, who dwelling in the midst of us, hath set up the like practice in these parts 
and hath sold sundry pieces to the natives, who can use them with great dexterity, 
excelling our English therei'ii, and have been vaunting with them atSowams, Nar- 
ragansctt and many other places, so as they are sjiread both North and South all the 



140 

land over to the great peril of all our lives. In the beginning of this mischief wc 
sought friendly to di;<suadc liim from it, but he scorned us therein, and prosecuted 
it tile more ; so as wc were constrained for the safety of ourselves, our wives and 
innocent cliildren, to apprehend him by force (though with some peril) and now 
liave sent him to the Council of New England to receive according to his demer- 
its, and be disposed of as their honors shall think fit, for the preventing of further 
mischief, the safety of our lives, and the terror of all other delin(iuents in the same 
kind. Now our hope and humble request is, that your Worship and those honor- 
able of his Majesty's Council for New England will commiserate our case, tender 
our lives and pity our infants ; and consider the great charges aud expenses that 
we and our assistants and associates have been at, besides allthe miseries and hard- 
sliips that we have broken through in these beginnings whicli have liitherto hap- 
pily succeeded for the ])lauting oi'tliis country which is hopeful, if it be cherished 
and protected against the cankered covetousness of these licentious men ; if not we 
must return and quit tlie country: Wherefore we beseech your Worship to 
afford us your favorable assistance and direction in bringing this man to his an- 
swer before tliose whom it may concern ; and to credit our true informations sent 
by this bearer, lest by his audacious and colored pretences he deceive you which 
know not things as we do: As likewise that such flsliermeu may be called to ac- 
count for their great abuses offered this j'ear and the last, as many as have been 
known to offend in this case ; and that your Worship for the time to came would 
be a means in what you may, that we may be strengthened with some authority 
or good order amongst ourselves for the redressing of the like abuses whieli may 
arise amongst us, till some general government be established in the land : Tliu.s 
in hopeful assurance that your Worship will make a favoraldo construction of 
these our honest intendments aud humble requests, we commend you to the protec- 
tion of the Highest, and rest. 

At your service, &c. 
June 9, Anno 1G28. 

[This letter, Bradford sas'S, was subscribed by some of the chief of every plan- 
tation, Plymouth, Naumkcag, (Salem,) Pascataquack and Natascot.] 



APPENDIX K. 



The 3d Edition of L'Escarbot's " History of New France," published in Paris, in 
1018, contains an Address to the King, which we here re-produce in full, and 
which confirms the views maintained by the writer, as to the effect of the revo- 
cation of De Mont's Charter, on the destinies of the new world. That revocation 
according to L'Escarbot worked "the ruin of a, fine Enterprise, %i hick promised 
the speedy establishment of a new kingdom.'''' 



To THE VERY ChUISTIAN Ki\G OF I'RAXCE AXD OP NAVARRE, LOUIS XIII, DuKE 

ov MiLAX, Count of Ast, Lord of Gexoa. 

Sire : — There are two principal tilings which ordinarily incite Xings to make 
conquests: zeal for the glory of God, and the augmentation of their own. In 
this double subject, our Kings, jour predecessors, have been for a long time in- 
vited to extend their dominion beyond the ocean, and to form new empires there, 
at little expense, by just and lawful ways. They luive expended some sums, and 
are now expending, in different places. But after having discovered the country 
they have been satisfied with that and the Prench name is ftvllen into contempt, 
not through want of virtuous men who might carry it upon the wings of tho 
loftiest winds, but by the plots, arts and ijractices of the enemies of your Crown, 
who have been able to govern the minds of those whom they have felt, were able 
to do somethin.^ to forward such an affair. Meanwhile, the Spaniard, formerly 
weak, by our inclifference, has rendered himself powerful in tlie East, and in tlie 
West, without our having had tho honorable ambition, not to precede him, but to 
second him, not to second him, but to avenge the insults done by them to our 
French, who under the consent of our Kings, wished to have a share in tlie inlier- 
itance of those new and immense lauds tiiat God presented to tho men of these 



141 

l)arts about twenty-six years ago. It was a thing worlliy of the lato King of 
"lorious memory, your fatlier, tlire, to reform tliese tilings ; but having lofty 
designs for the welfare of tlie Christian republic lie hail left to your young years, 
these exercises and the establishment of a new kingdom in tlio new world t wliilst 
on this side he would labor to reunite ditforcnt religions, and bring to a good un- 
derstanding tlie Cliristian Princes uuich iHi'judiccd between themselves. Now 
the jealousy of his enemies having hegnulged liim this glory, and us, such a 
possession, it may be said, ihat the burden which you have taken of governing 
kingdoms which have fallen to you weighs upon you suflicieutly without seeking 
occupations for pleasure, which are not necessary. But, Sire. 1 tliink on tlie con- 
trary ; that as the grand Ale.xander begun, almost at your age, the conciuest of 
the first empire of the world, so exti'aordiuary enterprises are very becoming to 
your Majesty, who for six months has given so many proofs of your prudence 
and of your courage, that tlie heavens have been cliarmed, and the eartli so much 
astonished, that there is not anj' among men who does not aiimire, love and fear 
you to-day, nor deem you capable of governing not only what you possess, but all 
the universe. 

This being so, Sire, and God so abundantly bestowed his favors upon you, they 
ought to be acknowledged by some action wortliy of a very Christian King; 
which is to make Christians and to l)ring to the fold of Jesus Christ the peojjle 
from beyond the sea, who are not .yet subjected to any Prince ; or, to efface from 
our books and from the memory of man, tliis name oT Aew France, of which in 
vain we boast. Sire, you will not want good captains upon the s])ot, if you may 
please to help and sustain them and pay the expenses for those only wlio are 
willing to settle in the country. J?ut, Sire, it is necessary to wish, and to com- 
mand and not to allow that that which has once been granted, should be revoked, 
as has been done heretofore, to the ruin of a fine enterprise which ijromised the 
speedy establishment of a new kingdom in those lands beyond, and the work 
would be well advanced to-day if tlie envy and the avarice of certain people 
who would not give a stroke of their sword for your service, had not prevented 
it. The late Lord de Poutrincourt, gentleman of immortal memory, burned with 
immutable desire (as he had well begun) the lands fallen to his share ; and in 
that he has alway been crossed-; (as also his eldest son, who inhabited the 
country ten years ago,) having never found but verj' little support in a thing so 
lofti', so Christian, and which belongs onlj^ to Christian llereuli. 

Lord de Monts and de Razille make the same complaint in regard to them. I 
leave out the enterprises farther back in our memory, of the voyages of Jacques 
Quartier, Villegagnon and Laudonniere, to Canada, to Brazil and to Florida. 
What, then. Sire, ^liall the Spaniard boast that whei'ever the sun shines, from his 
rising to his setting, he shall command ? and you, first King of the earth, eldest 
son of the Church, will not be able to say the same? What, have the old Greeks 
and Romans in their pag; nism, had the praise of having civilized many nations 
and sent great colonics, to that effect : and shall not we, born in the knowledge of 
the true God, and under a law wholly of cliarity, have the zeal not onlj- to civil- 
ize, but to bring to the way of safety so many wandering people, capable of every 
thing good, who are beyond the ocean, without God, without law, without reli- 
gionpiving in pitiable ignorance ? What, Sire, have the Kings, your great ances- 
tors, exhausted the men and treasures of France, and exposedtheir lives to death, 
to keep religion among the people of the East, and shall not we have the same 
zeal to make Christians of those of the West, who have voluntarily given us their 
land, and e.xtended their arms to us for a hundred years past ? Can we find any 
available excuse before the throne of God, when tlie3' accuse us of the want of 
pity which we have had towards them, and attribute to us their failure to be con- 
verted ? If we did not know the condition in which tlie^'are, we should be beyond 
reproach. But we see it, we touch it, we feel it, and we have no anxiety' about 
it. If some new people come to us from Italy or from Spain, with a new garment 
or a new song, we go to meet them, we embrace them, we admire them, in a mo- 
ment we make them overflow with riches. I do not blame this, Sire, since the 
bounty of Kings has no other liounds than their good pleasure, and since in your 
kingdom every one is master of his own propertj'. But to my mind, tliey should 
payas much attention to the work of which I speak, a work without a parallel 
which exceeds everything pious which can be conceived in the actions of men. 
One single confiscation, one single good benefice, one single sura of one hundred 
thousand crowns, counted and numbered (among several) since tlie death of the 
late King, your lather, i/rr, to a coinjiany who should only liave to act in the 
matter, could supply that, and cause you to rule within tlie torrid zone, and 
beyond in tlie West. But ever.y one wishes to draw to himself and so far from tlieir 
representing tliat to you, on the contrary, results make us believe, that all means 
are tried to enervate and cause to lose courage, those wlio Imsy themselves in such 
generous actions; without taking care that to-day, your kingdom is at stake 
in such matters. And if we waita century more, France will no longer be Franco 
but the prey of the stranger who undermines us every day ; corni]its your allies, 
and makes himself powerful to our ruin in a new world, which will ail belong to 



142 

him. And to dazzle us, treasures all made ready in those lands are demanded, as 
if tlie way to enter when you please was not open to your Majesty from one tropic 
to tlie other ; as if the glory and strength of Kings consisted in anything except 
the multitude of men ; and as if your ancient France had not nobie treasures in 
its wheat, wine, cattle, cloth, wool, woad and other provisions which are native 
to it : winch are also the treasures to hope for from your New France, more 
neighboring to us, which for so long a time, such as it is, supports with its 
fish all Europe, as much by sea as by land, and gives to Euroj)e its slcins from 
which our Newfoundlanders, and merchants draw good i)rofit. 

Sire, if there is a King in the world, who can, and ought to rule over the sea 
and the land, it is you who have innumerable men, jjart of whom are languishing 
for want of occupation. And were there only two or three kinds of people who 
abound in your kingdom, you would have much advantage, which would be no 
less powerful in making you feared at the extremities of the earth than the old 
<iauls who conquered Asia and Italy ; and there occupied the provinces called by 
their name -, and more recently still, our fathers, the first French who possessed 
the Rhine as much on the other side as on this. But you, (beside this,) have . 
harbors for the East and the West under your command. In addition, wood for 
ships ; provisions, sails and cordage to freight them in such abundance that you 
furnish all the nations near your kingdom,. 

There are many other things to say on this subject, Sire, which I abstain, at this 
time, from representing to j'our Majesty, when you have considered the impor- 
tance of the above, and will manifest that j'ou wish seriously to hear what con- 
cerns the good of your service and the glorj' of God in those Western lands. 

Thus may God deign to inspire you. Sire. Thus may God aid you, and strength- 
en your arm to re-enter your former inheritauce, and to subdue your enemies. 
Thus may God help us, soon to see your greatness served and obejed through 
all the earth. I shall deem myself honored in contributing to this all which 
ought, such a man as I am, 

Sire, 

of your Majesty, 

a very humble, very obedient 

and very faithful subject, 

Mark L'Escarbot, 

of Vervin. 



APPENDIX L. 



Explanation op L'Escarbot's Map of New France. 

On page 21, reference is made to the Mai> of New France which accompanied 
the 1st Edition of L'Escarbot's great work, the History of New France, a fac 
simile of which Map is herewith given. This Map was reijroduced in England in 
1609, by P. Erondelle, whose work was a compilation from L'Escarbot's History, 
without awarding any credit, or making any reference to the original. The work 
of L'Escarbot has never been translated into English. 

The information contained in this Map and the accompanying Catalogue of 
Explanations, will be valued and api^reciated by all students of American 
History. 

TO THE READER. 

My reader, not having been able to arrange well, in so little space, so many 
harbors, islands, capes, gulfs, or bays, straits and rivers, of which mention is 
made in the voyages which I have henceforward to represent to thee, in this third 
book, I have esteemed it better and more convenient, to indicate them by 
figures, having only burdened the map which I give thee, with the most famous 
names which may be in Newfoundlana, and the great river of Canada. 



143 

PLACES IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 

1. Cap de Bonne-veue — First landing of Captain Jacques Quartier. 

2. Port de Sainte Catherine. 

3. lie aux Oiseaux. — In this island there is such a quantify of birds that all 
the shipsof Franco could load themselves with tliem witliout its beinj; perceived ; 
Captain Jacques Quartier said this, and I believe it, indeed, for I have almost 
seen the same thing. 

4. Gol/e des Chateaux. 

5. Port de Carpunt. 

6. Cap Raze, where there is a harbor, called Rougnenst. 

7. Cap and Port de Degrad. 

8. I/e Sainte Catherine, and tliero even the Port des Chateaux. 

9. Port des Gouttes. 

10. Port des Balances. 

11. Port de Blanc-sablon. 

12. 1/e de Brest. 

13. Port des llettes. 

14. Port de Brest. 

15. Port Saint Antoine. 
16: Port Saint Servain. 

17. Fleuve Saint Jacques, and Port de Jaques Quartier- 

18 Cap Tiennot . 

19. Port Saint JSicholas. 

20. Cap de Rabast. 

21. Bai/e de Saint Laurent. 

22. lie Saint Gnillaume. 

23. lie Sainte Marthe. 

24. lie Saint Germain. 

25. Les Sept lies. 

26. Riviere called Chischedec, where there is a great quantity of aquatic hors- 
es called Hippopotami. 

27. lie de L' Assumptio^i, otherwise called ^ni/costi, which is about 30 leagues 
long, and is at the entrance of the great river of Canada. 

28. Detroit Saint Pierre. 

Having pointed out the places in Newfoundland which look towards the East, 
and those which are along the main land on the North, let us return to the said 
Newfoundland and go entirely round it. But we must know that there are two 
principal passages to enter the great gulf of Canada. Jacques Quartier, in liis 
two voyages, went by the Northern passage. To-day, to avoid the ice and for 
the shortest way, several people take the Southern passage, through the Strait 
which is between Cape Breton and Cape do Raye. And this route liaving been 
followed by Champlain, the first land discovered on his voyage was 

29. Cap Sainte Marie. 

30. lies Saint Pierre. 

31. Port dti Saint Esprit. 

32. Cap de Lorraine. 

33. Cap Saint Paul. 

34. Cap de Raye, which I consider to be the Cap pointu of Jacques Quartier. 

35. Les Mons des Cabanes. 

36. Cap double. 

Now let us pass to the other land towards Caj) Saint Laurent, which I should 
willingly call the island of Bacaillos, that is to say, of codfish, (as Ptjstel has very 
nearly marked,) to give it a proper name, although I may name thus all around 
the Golfede Canada : for, as far as Gachepe, all the liarbors are suitable for the 
fishery of the said fish, and also, even the harbors which are outside and look 
towards the South ; such as the harbor of the English, of Campseau, and of Sava- 
let. Now, beginning at the Strait between Cape de Raye and Cap Saint Laurent 
(which is 18 leagues broad) are found : 

37. Les Isles St. Paul. 

38. Cap Saint Laurent . 

39. Cap Saint Pierre. 

40. Cap Dauphin. 

41. Cap Saint Jean. 

42. Cap Royal. 

43. Gol/e Saint Julien. 

44. Passage, or Detroit of the bay of Campseau, which separates tlie island 
of Bacaillos from the main land. 

Since so manv years, this Strait is scarcely known, and nevertheless, it serves 
very much to shorten the way (or at least will serve when New France is inhab- 
ited) to the great river of Canada. We saw it last year, being ourselves in the 
harbor of Campseau going to look for some stream to supply us with fresh water 
before our return. We found one little one which I marked near the end of the said 



144 

baye or Cnmpsrau, at which place I had great fishins; of cod. Now, when I cc 
sider Jaciiiies Qiuutier'ti route, in his lirst voyage, I iind it so obseure, tliat n( 
Ing is more so, Ibr want of havinf;; noticed this passage. For our sailors the ofte^. 
est use the niiiiR'S iilaoed by tlie Savages, sucli as Tadousaac, Aiiticosti, Gndiepe, 
Trer/atc; Miriwiicln's, Campseau, Kebec, Jiatiscan, Saijeunay, C/iits/icdec, Man- 
taune, and otljers. In tliisobsi;ui ity J have tliouglit tliat what he calls the lies (Jo- 
loniliaiics, arc the Islands called K;miees, wliich are several in number, as he had 
said in his .speech that a tempest had carried tliem from Cap ])ointu to .'iy leagues 
distance, for ho had alrea,dy passed from the Northern bend towards the South. 

45. I/es Coloinbairps alias Ramees. 

46. lies Mari/caiix. There are three islands filled with these birds like a mea- 
dow witli grass, as Jacques Quartier said. 

47. lie de Hrion, where there are Hippopotami, or sea horses. 

48. lie (/' Alczay. 

From there it is said that they sailed 40 leagues and found 

49. Cap d'Orleans. 

50. Fleuve des Barques, VfhichI taketohe Miramichis. , . 

51. Cap des Hauvages. 

52. Gulfe Saint Laurent, which I take to be Tregate. 

53. Cap d' Esperance. 

54. Baye or Golfe de Chaleur, at which it is hotter, Jacques Quartier says, than 
in Spain. In which I shall not voluntarily believe him, until another voyage has 
been made, as regards the climate. But it may be that accidentally it was very 
warm there wlien he was there, which was in the mouth of July. 

55. Cap du Pre. 

56. Saint Mantin. 

57. Baye des Morues. 
68. Cap Saint Louis. 

59. Cap de Montmorency. 

60. Gachepe. 

61. Isle percee. 

62. He. de Bonaventure. 

Let us now enter the great river of Canada in which wc shall find fewharbors 
in the space of more than 350 leagues, for it is very full of rocks. At the bend of 
the South, (Jachepe being passed, there is : 

63. Cap a L'Evet/ue. 

64. Riviere de Mantaune. 

65. Les Ileaux Saint Jean, which I take to be Le Pic. 

66. Riviere des Iroquois. At the bond of the North, after Chisclieder, placed 
above at number 27. 

67. Riviere Saint e Marguerite. 

68. Port de Lesquemin, where the Basques go to fisli for whales. 

69. Port de Tadoussac, at the miuith of the river of Saijuenay, where is the 
greatest traffic in skins of all the country. 

70. Riviere de Sni/riinay, at 100 leagues from the mouth of the river of Canada. 
This river is so hoi low that the bottom is almost not to be found. Here the great 
river of Canwla is only 7 leagues broad. 

71. lie de Lierre. 

72. lie aux Coudres. These two islands were thus named by Jacques Quartier. 

73. He d'' Orleans, wliich Jacques Quartier named He de Bacclius, on account of 
the great quantity of vines which are there. Here the water of the great river 
is fresh, and tlio tide flows more than 40 leagues beyond. 

74. Kehec. It is a Strait of the great river of Canada, which Jacques Quartier 
named Achelaoi, where Sire De Monts made a fort, and a settlement of French. 
Near which place there is a stream wliich falls from a rock very high, and very 
straight. 

75. Port de Saincte Croix, where Jacques Quartier wintered, and Champlain 
says that he did not pass beyond ; but he is mistaken, and the remembrance of 
those who have done well ought to bo kept. 

76. Riniere de Batiscan. 

77. He Saint E/oy. 

78. Riviere de Foix, named by Champlain Les Trois Rivieres. 

79. Hoclielaga, a city of the Savages, from whose name Jacques Quartier called 
the great river that we name Canada. 

80. Mont Royal. Mountain near Hochelnga, from which the great river of Can- 
ada is seen till lost from sight beyond the <}nnid Saut. 

81. Saut of i\\<i great river of Cn!«a(?^, which lasts a league, this river fiilling 
among the rocks below with a strange noise. 

82. 'Lafirande Riviere de Canada, whose source is not Jvnown. More than 800 
leagues of which are known, either from actual sight, or from the report of the 
Saviiges. I find in Jacques Quarticr's second voyage, that it is 30 leagues broad 
at its entrance, and more than 2(i0 fiithoms deep. This river has been called 
Horhelatja, by the same Jac(iucs (Quartier, from the name of the peoi»le who, in 
liis time, inhabited about this Sctut. 



